Hellsing: Afterlight
by AnimeVeteran
Summary: Taking place in the 1970's, Alucard is sent to the United States under the orders of Arthur Hellsing to investigate a rising vampiric threat. We also meet Wesley Felix, a survivor of the Vietnam War who returns home and learns there's more in the shadows than vampires. These two characters join together to take on a supernatural menace that seemingly answers to the Almighty.
1. Hellsing: Afterlight - Episode I

Episode I

In a large mansion estate in a secluded part of Great Britain, outside the outskirts of the great city of London, an elderly Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing made her way through the intricate halls of her home during the late hours of the night. The light of the full moon shone through the windows in the dark of a summer night, and the pale streams that floated through the windows illuminated her silver-white hair as it flowed gently behind her. A slight gleam shone off of the smooth black leather of an eye patch that covered her right eye, which now seemed contoured to her facial features over its years of use. The moonlight created harsh shadows on the walls and glare that shone off of the few mirrors that were hung sparingly on the walls.

Glancing into one of these mirrors with her left eye, Integra glimpsed her gradually aging features. Wrinkles were forming below her eyes and around the corners of her mouth, and the creases at her brow remained ever present on her oh-so-stern face. Even her once bright blue eye had begun to lose some of its former luster, now remaining a mix of blue and pale grey. Her skin shone pale in the moonlight, and it almost gave her a glow of dignified radiance that could attest to the experience and determination that still burned brightly in her heart. She had had more than her fair share of the brutalities life could bring, but the grace in her stride and the regality of her stance would fool anyone as to the toll it had taken on her.

Her footsteps echoed softly through the halls, as if the entire mansion were silent towards her out of some high respect or solemn fear. But if there was anything to fear within the confines of the mansion, it was the creature she was going to see. Taking a turn down a hall that led past walls of portraits, she ran her fingers along the wallpaper and across small divots in the wall, left from the various amounts of patchwork and repairs done for the mansion over the years. She gave a soft smile as her fingers bumped over these little concave spots within the masonry and woodwork.

_"__We've both got our scars to cover, don't we?"_ she thought to herself, placing her other hand on the patch that covered her marred and empty left eye socket.

Arriving at a particularly large mirror surrounded by a golden frame, she slid her fingers behind and pulled a hidden door gently open, revealing a dark and foreboding stone staircase leading into the sublevels of the mansion. She could barely see past the first few steps, but she knew the way by heart. She proceeded down, her steps now resounding with firm footfalls upon dark stone, the air around her growing slightly chill with each step. She left the entrance agape, letting what little light found its way through guide her. Eventually it became too dark to distinguish much, but she made her footfalls deliberate, knowing the distance between each step by muscle-memory.

After she reached the bottom of the staircase, her final downward step at the base of the stairway echoed out through a large chamber, dimly lit by seemingly unknown means. Far across from her she could see the silhouetted shape of a large chair, almost throne-like in shape, with a single small table sitting off to its right. She smiled to herself, and proceeded steadily forward into the gloom.

Coming to a standstill only a few feet from the seat, she could clearly make out a tall dark figure sitting against the dark red leathery back of the chair. A slight gleam shone from his red-spectacled glasses resting on the table beside him, and his long dark hair curled up and out in front of him in long, smooth wisps. She caught a glimpse of movement as a smile crept across the figure's face.

Two bright red circles of light gleamed for an instant as Alucard opened his eyes, immediately meeting his master's own.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, my Master?" Alucard's suave and elegant voice asked in a calm, mannerly tone.

Integra simply smiled down at her friend and servant, producing a blood bag from the jacket she kept draped over her shoulders.

"I know those few drops I lent you aren't nearly enough," she said, tossing the bag over to him.

Alucard snatched the bag out of the air, taking a long drink from the crimson sack of fluid before giving a satisfied sigh.

"Type O…" he said, swirling the bag around as though it were a bottle of fine wine. "You remembered my favorite."

"The universal donor type," Integra said. "The only blood type that can be accepted by all other human beings. The ideal medium for giving life to those who need it."

Alucard eyed his master keenly. "But you and I both know you didn't come here just to deliver a bag of blood."

This brought up a chuckle from Integra's throat. "I know it may seem strange of me, but a master should look out for their servants, should they not?"

She stepped closer and knelt down, studying Alucard's face. Pale as most vampire's features were, his seemed to be exceptionally so. The smile on his face was marred with fatigue, and his formerly bloodlust-filled gaze she knew so well had dulled.

"All that time and I've never seen you so weak…" Integra said. "I never believed you could be brought to such a level after all of your restrictions had been lifted…"  
>"You did what was necessary," Alucard said. "I suppose my own overconfidence played a part. When one is immortal, you tend to forget there are things in this world that still hold sway over your life."<p>

"Things?" Integra asked. "What in the world aside from God himself could hold sway over you?"

"Believe it or not," Alucard said, laying his head back against his chair, "there was a time when divine intervention almost cost me my existence."

"Divine intervention?"

"Yes… only a few years before you were born…"

* * *

><p>The year is 1970. The Vietnam War is being fought in the eastern hemisphere in full ferocity. Guerilla warfare is taking its toll on the American and South Vietnamese forces, and the bomb strikes and air raids conducted against the North Vietnamese's Viet Cong forces torch the country with plumes of napalm and towers of billowing black smoke. Green forests are turned crimson with the blood and gore of soldiers torn apart by mines, bombs, shrapnel, and various booby traps.<p>

Blood which feeds an unseen force moving swiftly through the underbrush.

As it turns out, areas of thick forest canopy provide the necessary protection from sunlight that the various vampires require to survive. Armed with superior senses and extreme strength and agility, they took particular pleasure in slinking through the shadows and tearing apart any offense they came across. Various strewn limbs and carcasses provided for easy feeding, and the enemy could hardly keep up.

One such small pack of vampires was staking out an open area of field, where intelligence had placed a group of American soldiers to be passing through at any second. Dusk had fallen, and it was more than dark enough to prevent them from being scorched or even seen. As the sounds of footfalls on turf and brush grew closer with the drumming of beating hearts, the Viet Cong vampires grew eager with anticipation.

Eventually, a troupe of about fifteen American and South Vietnamese soldiers made their way into the clearing. They were all battle worn and tired, many with various small wounds about their person. The scent of fresh blood pulsing on the surface of human skin was enough to drive the vampires crazy as they stalked their next meal, although the taste of blood was still fresh in their mouths. However, bloodlust was a difficult thing to satisfy, especially when each drink made them even stronger than before.

Then it was too much. Dashing out of the surrounding forest brush, the vampires blasted away at the first ranks of the soldiers. Bullets pounded against armor and pierced through flesh, and fountains of blood splattered up into the air and all over the jungle ground. Some rained down on the waiting monsters, and they stood in the midst of their still living prey, reveling in their confusion. When they were finally noticed, they allowed their victims to try and fight back, easily dodging out of the bullet's ways and disarming the attackers with unnatural grace. Toying with them, they encircled the frightened soldiers, some of them feasting on their still-living companions in the agony of their first assault. It was time to finish the job.

As the leader of the pack advanced, the sound of a single gunshot rang through the air, but it wasn't like any rifle they'd ever heard. It sounded like something much heavier.

The second the sound had reached their ears, a slight scuff announced to them that a bullet had passed them by and landed in the brush behind them. All was silent for a split second, and then the leader of the pack burst into dust, a hole visible directly between his eyes before he completely disintegrated.

All was deathly still. A definite sound of strong footsteps came crushing through the forest behind the remaining soldiers. In the dark green of the jungle there came a tint of deep red. Its shape became more definite, and before the eyes of all gathered, a tall figure dressed in a long red frock overcoat, black suit, red cravat tie, bright red glasses, white gloves, dark black boots, and a large, wide-brimmed red fedora stepped forward. In his right hand he held a single silver pistol with a barrel the length of his forearm, and an almost gleeful smile shone under his locks of black hair.

"You men get out of here," he commanded with a deep, powerful voice. "I'll handle this filth."

The American and South Vietnamese forces didn't wait for a second opinion, rushing to the cover behind this unknown savior.

The Viet Cong vampires, however, weren't willing to wait either. Raising their weapons, they emptied their clips into this overconfident individual, effectively tearing him into pieces. One of them moved forward to investigate the matter. The figure had been absolutely riddled, and his left arm had been virtually shot off. There was even exposed bone on the chest and head, pieces of fractured skull, rib, and muscle exposed to the night air. But there was something strange about the scent of this one's blood…

Getting closer to try and figure this peculiar person out, the soldier stared down at the deceased figure's face, studying the one good eye that had managed to remain intact.

An eye that shifted and stared right back at him with a bright red glow.

Suddenly the figure's corpse burst back into life, wounded as it was, and the creature's right hand burst through the Viet Cong soldier, piercing through armor and all. Bone snapped, blood sprayed, and a proud, dark, arrogant laugh pierced the night's heat.

In the light of the moon, blood and what appeared to be the essence of darkness itself flowed in towards the slowly healing beast of a man dressed in red. Alucard dropped the dead vampire to the ground, the blood soaking into his arm as he pulled himself back together. His smile was wider than ever, and he treated those vampires to a show of force they'd never forget.

He emptied a clip of his silver bullets into many of them, but didn't bother to reload as he tore the two remaining apart with his bare hands. Running the final vampire in the pack through with nothing but his palm, he smiled with satisfaction as the monster burst apart and vanished into the wind.

As he took a moment to observe that the area was secure, one vampire, who had decided to hold back from the rest of the pack to make sure no airstrikes were incoming, burst from the dark and attempted to take on this formidable foe with the element of surprise on his side.

Alucard, however, was far too prepared, and he raised his now fully loaded pistol and aimed straight for the vampire's heart.

A single gunshot rang through the air once again, but it didn't come from Alucard's pistol.

Just as surprised as the vampire who now laid on the ground dead from a bullet wound to the head, Alucard turned to see an American soldier sitting up in the edge of the clearing, the tip of his M1 Garand rifle still smoking.

"Well, well…" Alucard muttered to himself, grinning at the bravado displayed by this simple human.

"Gotcha, you bastard…" the man said, breathing heavily. He suddenly clutched at his side, the rifle's tip falling to the ground. Removing his hand from his side, he gazed at fresh blood that was seeping through his uniform.

A shadow eclipsed the faint moonlight above him as Alucard stood over this rugged individual.

"It takes a real man to be able to kill a monster," Alucard complimented him. "Still, it remains to be seen whether you're a man or just a lucky shot."

The soldier's gaze began to blur as he started to become lightheaded. His head nodded as he tried to maintain consciousness.

"What's your name, soldier?" Alucard asked.

"Wesley…" he strained to say. "…Wesley… Felix…"

"Not to worry, soldier," Alucard said, his voice starting to fade from Wesley's ears. "I'm not going to allow you to die here."

And everything faded away as Wesley fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

><p>His vision still blurred, Wesley opened his eyes to a bright white glare directly above him. Blinking at the intensity, he pulled his pillow over his head to try and fall back asleep.<p>

"_…__Pillow…?_" Wesley's mind was stumped for a moment.

Sitting straight up in bed, he winced as a pain shot up his side. Touching the focus of his ache, he found his waist bound in gauze and bandages.

"_Right…_" he thought, his mind returning to him. "_I was shot…_"

Then the memories came rushing back. The jungle. The vampires. The men killed. The gunfire.

And the figure dressed in red.

"_Who was that…?_" he kept thinking, trying to put the pieces together.

"Looks like you're awake," a deep voice said to his right.

"Oh, yeah…" he said, turning to see who was next to him.

Red eyes stared back at him from between red glasses and a dark red wide-brimmed fedora.

"You…!" Wesley started to say, unable to believe his eyes.

Alucard simply smiled in return, leaning back in his chair. Two sharp fangs were clearly visible within his cocky grin.

"I saw you! You were shot to hell, but… but you still got up somehow…" Wesley tried to make sense of everything, but one fact became abundantly clear to him as he eyed this stranger. "…You're not human, are you?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you everything up front," Alucard said. "That is… unless you don't object?"

"I believe Mr. Felix has seen enough to warrant an explanation," another voice chimed in.

Turning to his left, Wesley's eyes met another peculiar figure, this one dressed head to toe in a black suit and tie with a black fedora on his head and mirrored shades over his eyes. If he had to guess, Wesley assumed he was some sort of big shot government agent.

"What the…?! Who are you people?!" Wesley said, extremely confused.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Alucard said, standing up and removing his hat. "My name is Alucard. I am an agent of Britain's Hellsing Organization, and I am a vampire."

Wesley was about to chuckle, but, remembering how Alucard had managed to stand up and kill at least ten inhuman soldiers after taking multiple clips of ammo, stifled his laugh and accepted the statement.

"Hellsing Organization…?" he said after a pause. "I've never heard of them before."

"Nor would we expect you to have," the agent said.

"Well, who are you then?" Wesley asked.

"That's classified," the agent said.

"Sure…"

Turning back to Alucard, Wesley went over a few things in his head.

"But why is Britain joining the fray? I didn't think they were involved in the war."

"We're not," Alucard said. "I was fighting a rising vampire population in the east on behalf of requests from our agents in the Americas. We have no interest in your government's war on Communism."

"I see…" Wesley said. "Well… thank you for saving my life."

"Considering the futility of your actions, you're lucky I tried to save you at all," Alucard said. "Your shot only killed it for a moment. It regenerated and would have struck again had it not been for the precautions I took."

"Oh…" Wesley said.

"But I'm curious…" Alucard continued. "Why shoot at all?"

"Because a good friend of mine was out there with me," Wesley said. "And those… those things out there shot him down like he was nothing."

Alucard's eyes gleamed at this. There was more to Wesley than he thought.

"Regardless of what happened or why…" the agent said, "after your recuperation is complete, you'll be honorably discharged from the U.S. military and assigned to a new organizational branch."

"And what organization is this?" Wesley asked.

"Ours," he said.

Wesley was once again stunned into silence.

"Considering your track record, you have been judged fit for duty with us. Should you choose to become a member of our organization, you will then be working closely with agents such as myself and also our fellow agents at Hellsing."

"Are there more like you in this Hellsing Organization?" Wesley asked Alucard.

"Not yet," Alucard said. "But maybe someday…"

"I think that takes care of everything," the agent said.

"Very well. I'm going back to sleep," Alucard said, walking through the wall behind Wesley and vanishing from sight.

"What else can this guy d-"

Wesley turned to find the other man had vanished as well. He was left alone in his hospital room.

"What have I gotten into?"

* * *

><p>After a few weeks of recovery, Wesley was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health, and was also honorably discharged from the military with a purple heart. He soon returned to his home state of Michigan, going back to the small town he called home. He pulled his black Chevy truck up the cracked and worn driveway, stopping in front of the open garage just below the old basketball hoop they kept mounted over the entrance. It was a small home, with a single stall garage that was a little rough around the edges but served its purpose effectively. Just next to it was Wesley's single story home, comprised of three bedrooms, a small living and dining room within the same space, and a small branch-off kitchen area just next to the front entrance. It wasn't the most spacious of homes, but it was the place he had lived his childhood without complaint. The familiar pale blue shingling along the exterior was only showing the slightest signs of paint chipping; he'd probably be assigned by his father to help out with that at some point.<p>

"_Maybe I'll convince him to try a different color this time…_" Wesley thought to himself with a small smile. "_And speak of the devil!_"

His father, mother, and younger sister all emerged from the front door, smiles stretching across their faces at the sight of their fully uniformed and fully recovered son and brother returning from the hospital.

"Wes, my boy!" his father said, raising his hands in jubilation.

"Your boy?" his mother joked. "He's my young man!" She hurried over to him and gave him a welcome home kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Mom! Hi Dad!" Wesley said, embracing them both.

"Hey, bro! Don't leave me out of it!" his younger sister chimed in.

"How could I forget my little sis?" Wesley said. "How are you, Lauren?" he said, giving her a hug as well.

"Still a freshman in college," she said, removing some blonde hair from her face. At five feet and nine inches tall, she still stood only a few inches shorter than her older brother, who likewise had blonde hair and blue eyes as she did. "Did you get your hair cut shorter?"

"Military requirement," Wesley said, running a hand over his head. "But what's with the getup?"

"Oh, this?" she said, stretching out her tie dye shirt and fumbling with her silver peace sign necklace. "It's just what's popular to wear these days."

"At least you're not getting into what those other kids are doing," his mother said. "Rebellious children doing drugs and making trouble!"

"Now, now, Beth, honey," his father said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Now's not the time to be talking about such things. Our son is home!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear," she said. "Come on in, hon! We've got dinner almost ready! I remembered your favorite! Honey ham, mashed potatoes, and a nice cold beverage."

"She means 'beer'," his father joked, opening the front door. The nostalgic sound of the door creaking open sent a flash of childhood memories through Wesley's mind. That door had always creaked, no matter how much they had tried to fix it, but there was never a need to replace it. So, whenever that creaking sound was heard, it meant someone had returned home or a friend had just arrived.

"I could definitely go for a cold one, Dad!" Wesley said. "Especially after what I've seen…"

Just as he was about to follow his family inside, movement caught the corner of his eye. Looking out across the road, a pitch black car was parked across from the driveway, and a man completely dressed in black stared over at him from behind mirrored shades. Wesley held eye contact with him for a few moments, but it became clear he didn't intend to leave any time soon.

"_Well, speak of the devil… again,"_ Wesley thought.

The man rolled down his car window, motioning for Wesley to meet him.

"Hang on a minute, guys. I'll be right in! There's someone here who wants to talk to me."

"Is it a friend of yours?" his mother called out. "Does he want to join us?"

"Uh, no, Mom. He's someone I met from the hospital. Probably just wants to go over a few things with me."

Walking across the street, he leaned down to the man's level outside his car door.

"You seem to have made quite the recovery."

It was the same agent from the hospital.

"Yeah, I'm jumping off the walls. What are you here for?"

"I wanted to follow up on our previous arrangements," he said. "Have you given any consideration to your new position?"

"I have… and I'm going to have to decline."

"Pardon?"

"Listen…" Wesley said, taking a nervous step back. "I know you said I had potential and all… but I've seen my share of monsters and death. I don't know why you'd want me out there fighting those things anyway. Hell, it took one of… _him_… to take down just that little group of them back in Vietnam."

"You'd be training under the best, not to mention fortified with the proper weaponry."

"I don't care. I don't want to go anywhere near something like that again!"

"Mr. Felix, the matter is far greater than you realize."

"I'm sure it is," Wesley said. "But I'll have nothing to do with it. I'm sorry, the answer is no."

With that, Wesley returned to his home. The man in black started his car, taking one last look at the house before driving away.

"There's more to this than you realize, Mr. Felix. We need you… more than you know."

* * *

><p>Weeks passed, and Wesley didn't see any sign of the man in black since his last conversation with him. Things went on as they always had; Wesley returned to the university to study under the paid education his service in the military had granted him, his sister continued to seek her degree in medicine, and his parents were there waiting for him at home. They had graciously allowed him to stay at home until he found a suitable place to live. After all, they hadn't changed his room one bit since he left.<p>

That wasn't all that had happened since his return. Wesley had met with old friends, learned about this new peace-loving culture that seemed more and more like a huge rebellion against traditional values that created more conflict than it did peace, and even met his sister's new boyfriend, who he was extremely observant of. He didn't like the fact that his little sister was now dating someone, but the guy seemed descent enough. Having a veteran as an older brother was a big incentive to keep him in check.

He especially loved being able to sleep in his old bed again. He'd missed being able to sleep on a mattress that wasn't army issue or absolutely sterile. It was those little things that he missed that made all the difference. The feel of the sheets, the smell of his room, and the way the street lights shone through his windows in such a calming way were all the ingredients needed to fall fast asleep. He'd missed it so much.

A familiar creak of the front door echoed through the house.

"_Dad… fiddling with the car at this hour?_" Wesley thought. "_Well, I'm awake now… might as well see what he was up to._"

Stepping out of his bed, he threw on a pair of jeans he'd kept beside his bed for quick changing. His feet padded heavily on the shaggy carpeting of his room as he stepped to his bedroom door, which opened with a slight click of the handle.

"Dad, what are you doing up at this hour?"

A warm fluid splashed his face, droplets sliding down his forehead and down his cheek.

"What the…?"

Wiping his hand over his head, he brought his hand down as a thick residue covered his fingertips.

Red.

The familiar scent soon shot through his nostrils, and his body seemed to kick back into overdrive, like he was back on the battlefield. He was jolted into a state of fight or flight, adrenaline pumping through him as his heart raced and his skin warmed, opening pores that set an immediate layer of perspiration all across his body. His eyes were now wide and alert, and his sense of hearing seeming to pick up everything. His body shook as his muscles tensed and prepared to move.

Then his focus shifted past his fingers to a figure standing in the front doorway.

He was holding his father's corpse in his arms, blood pouring from an open wound on his neck.

The same blood now dripped down Wesley's face, and covered the lips of the figure that now stood with a glistening red smile on his face.

"DAD!" Wesley cried.

He rushed the stranger, striking him across the face with all his might. The stranger grabbed Wesley's arm with a grip that sent pain shooting through his entire arm.

"Look at you, soldier boy," he said, twisting Wesley's wrist and forcing him to his knees. "Bold of you to take on someone like me."

With a simple flip of his arm, Wesley was thrown across the room and into the wall, plaster and wood breaking behind his back as he struck the far side of the living room. The wind was knocked from Wesley's lungs, and he coughed trying to catch his breath again.

"Are you nimrods finished yet?" the stranger called.

"Yeah," a new voice called from another bedroom. "Not much to drink here. Just a couple of broads and that old guy."

Two more figures emerged from the other bedrooms, one from Wesley's sister's room, and the other from his mother's room. Both had blood-stained mouths. They all wore the same attire as the first; dark hooded sweatshirts with jeans and various other trinkets strewn about their person.

The bodies of Wesley's mother and sister were tossed out onto the floor in front of him.

"Looks like we've got one more," the apparent leader said, dropping his father's corpse to the ground. "And he looks healthy enough to feed all of us."

"Wes…ley…" a faint voice said from the floor.

"Lauren!" Wesley cried out, barely able to pick himself up.

"Well, it looks like the little bitch is still alive," one of the figures said, picking up Lauren's body by the collar and swinging it back and forth. Drops of crimson blood fell to the carpet below, some of it from her blonde hair.

Lauren barely managed to lift her head, trying to reach a trembling hand out to where she'd heard her brother's voice.

Wesley's blue eyes met hers as they went dark.

"She didn't last long," the thug said, throwing her back to the ground.

"That just leaves you," the first figure said, wiping his mouth on his sleeve as he stepped forward.

"Come on, man! I'm still parched here!" one of the thugs said, licking his lips with intense bloodlust.

The lead vampire hissed at the other, baring his fangs that were stained red from his last drink.

"That old bag of shit didn't taste good in the slightest! You got the sweet tasting bitches, so I get first bite off of this piece of meat!"

Wesley tried to stand and strike at them again, but the leader simply dodging, slamming Wesley back into the wall and gripping his throat with a tight fist.

"That's right. Fight back. Struggling makes the blood pump faster…" he said, opening his fanged maws and leaning towards Wesley's throat. The rank smell of fresh blood wafted up into Wesley's face, and he struggled to get himself free from his grip.

A loud crack of bone resounded through the house, and the vampire thug froze in place. Looking down, a hand protruded from his chest, slick with the creature's blood.

His grip on Wesley's neck fell limp, and he cried out in agony as he was lifted into the air by the arm that stuck out of his rib cage. A loud blast of a gunshot boomed as a bullet passed through his head, and the vampire's body fell limp to the ground and began to fall apart.

Having taken only a few seconds to accomplish, the other two vampire thugs weren't so quick on the uptake. They both turned to see a man completely dressed in black with mirrored shades standing in the middle of the room, one arm covered in blood and a pistol in the other.

"What the-" the sentence was cut short by a massive punch to the vampire's face that let out a symphony of cracks and fractures as the face shattered beneath the man's fist. The vampire flew through the wall and out into the back yard, writhing in pain as he clutched at his face while black blood drops oozed from between his fingers.

"You bastard!" the other vampire yelled, leaping onto the man's back and biting down on his neck from behind. A very distinct sound of snapping bone was heard, and the man fell to his knees.

A few moments of silence passed before the vampire leapt off of the man's back, howling in pain and covering his mouth. As he continued to yell and spit in his agony, little bits of tooth and fang fell from his maw. Wesley caught a glimpse of two large canine fangs that were completely cracked up to the gums.

"What the hell are you?!" the vampire yelled, tears streaming from his eyes while he tried to keep his mouth from feeling any worse.

The agent stood up, turned to the vampire, and aimed his pistol right for his face.

"That's classified."

Another gunshot put the vampire out of his misery, and a third ended the torture of the vampire with a broken face.

Wesley slid down the wall, eyes wide and breathing heavily. The full impact of what had just happened left him in a state of shock.

"You're injured," the agent said, lifting Wesley to his feet. "Come with me."

"They're… they're…" Wesley stammered running his fingers along the trail of blood that had streamed down his face.

"It's alright," the agent said. "They aren't suffering anymore."

* * *

><p>Finding himself once again in a hospital bed, Wesley stared blankly down at his bed sheets without moving a muscle. Any words that were spoken to him sounded like far off echoes in the distance, and any movement around him seemed more like a cloud passing across the sky in his vision, nothing but a shadow blocking the light for a moment.<p>

All he could see or hear were his sister's eyes as she spoke his name before she died.

Those blue eyes. That red blood.

"Wes…ley…" her voice echoed again and again.

"Wesley!" a familiar voice now broke through his fog.

Blinking and looking up, he met the sight of two smaller reflections of himself in the glasses of the man in black. Even from those small visages of himself, he could see the swelling around his red eyes against the pale white of his skin. The sight of himself brought up a fresh lump in his throat, and he struggled to swallow it back down again. He couldn't stand seeing the blue of his own eyes.

The agent sat down in a seat next to Wesley's hospital bed, removing the black fedora from his head as well as the glasses from his face. He kept his head down, not willing to look him in the eyes just yet.

"Mr. Felix…" he began, "I'm truly sorry for your loss."

Wesley remained silent.

"…We had been tracking that small pack of vampires for quite some time. Their numbers had reached near extermination, and they became desperate. So they sought out a source of nourishment before trying to take us on again. They just so happened to have chosen…"

He coughed, clearing his throat. After a few moments of silence, he continued.

"…I happened to have been surveying your home when they struck. With the speeds those creatures are capable of I was barely able to arrive in time to save you."

Still no response. Deciding it was rather futile to try and continue to converse with him at this point, the man in black stood, replacing the glasses over his eyes.

"If there is anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to ask."

He turned away and walked toward the door.

"…I'm in."

The agent's hand hesitated over the doorknob. He turned back toward Wesley, who now looked him straight in the eye with an intensity that could have been compared to a predator staring down an adversary. But the violent desire he sensed from Wesley wasn't geared toward him.

Walking back to his bedside, he looked down at Wesley with a stern expression.

"Once you've become one of us, there is no going back to what you were. You'll be outside of both society and the law. Any relationships you have up until now will be prohibited."

"You said it was a pack that attacked us," Wesley said. "Those bastards killed my brothers in arms, now my family…"

He inhaled deeply, trying to maintain his composure. His lower lip shook with a combination of sorrow and fury.

"I'll kill every last one of them," he said, once again glaring up at the mirrored shades above him.

"Very well, Mr. Felix," he said, extending a hand. Wesley shook it firmly.

"Welcome to the Men in Black."

END EPISODE I


	2. Hellsing: Afterlight - Episode II

Episode II

In the middle of a large forested area in northern Arizona, a large group of college students pitched their camp as the sun began to set behind the trees. Campfires flickered to a bustling blaze in a matter of minutes, and the sound of guitars and singing echoed through the woods far from any residential ears. Smoke billowed and curled through the branches of the canopy, most of it coming from the fire pits, but some of it rising from the lips of the counterculture loving youngsters who held boiling bongs and shimmering joints in their hands. Great breaths of sensual pleasure abounded as each person worked up a desensitizing high from marijuana and alcohol. The night waned on, and the clear night sky illuminated by the silver light of the full moon made fanciful the various howls of coyotes and hounds off in the distance.

This evening, special attention was given to a new recruit to the anti-establishment regime. Everyone in the camp enthusiastically welcomed the aspiring rebel, a young girl with red hair, freckled face, and green eyes. Drawn into the group by the object of her naïve affections, she was experiencing everything for the first time. She smoked joints, she tried alcohol despite not being of age, and let the thought of her parent's disapproval of her fade away with the grey puffs of smoke that blended and faded with the plumes from the campfires. Ignorance truly was blissful for this bunch.

In honor of this new arrival and in the ever-increasing need to pursue the latest high, her boyfriend had decided to take their relationship to a new level of sensuality and intimacy. As they sat together by the campfire in each other's arms, he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Are you ready to take the next step with me?"

She said nothing in response, but merely looked him in the eyes and nodded with an excited blush of her cheeks and smile on her face.

Eyes soon trailed over to the young couple as they kissed passionately, her boyfriend going from kissing to necking as they embraced tightly.

He kissed her neck hard.

Harder.

Too hard.

Becoming nervous, she tried to push away from him, but his grip was incredibly strong. The power in his grasp began to frighten her, and she began to panic as she felt sharp teeth trying to pierce the skin on her neck.

"Let me go!" she cried, beginning to struggle fiercely.

Angered at her resistance, he threw her to the ground. His figure silhouetted by the light of the campfire, two piercing red eyes glowed from inside the shadow of his form.

Looking around at the group of people who had brought her here, the same shimmer shined from behind each pair of eyes. Fangs protruded from each manic grin, and a wild, untamed ferocity burned in their expressions.

"You wanted to join us," he said, stepping closer to her. "You were going to be one of us, experience the ultimate high for the first time!"

He picked her up off the ground, holding her with a grip that cast aside any prior restraint or concern. He now pulled on her hair, forcing her to expose her neck. Barring his fangs and hissing with thirst, he leaned in towards her once more.

His head suddenly jerked back as a gunshot rang through the night. Blood trickled from the smoking hole in his upper left forehead, and he fell to the ground, his body soon fading into dust.

There was a dead silence for a good beat, save for the crackling of the firewood and embers.

Another shot rang out as another one of the young blooded vampires was struck to the ground. His body crumbled as well, sending the others into a frenzied panic. They screeched and hissed at the surrounding trees, trying to discern the direction the shots were coming from. A third shot hit another vampire square in the forehead, sending his body to the ground as though he had been clotheslined by a straight punch to the face.

Sensing the direction of the shooter, one vampire attempted to head into the trees to try and stalk this killer out. Before he could make it into the canopy, however, he was struck in the shoulder by another shot which sent him plummeting into one of the fire pits below. The vampire howled and screeched in agony as his body was consumed by flame.

Now the pack of bloodsuckers tried to retreat into the forest away from the shooter. Bullets whizzed past their heads and skimmed their bodies as they tried to duck behind the dense forestation around them. Running into the black and white of the moonlit woods, they sprinted quickly to try and outrun the sniper.

A click of a pistol being cocked stopped them dead in their tracks. Peering into the dark, a slight shimmer of mirrored shades reflected the light of the moon and campfires from within the shadows.

Bursts of gunfire flashed again and again as flurries of bullets fired from the pistol the man wielded. Vampire after vampire was killed and reduced to ash, and only a measly couple managed to find cover between the two shooters. Having emptied his clip, the agent decided to take on these two survivors on his own. He lifted his right hand into the air, holding his palm flat as though telling someone to stop.

Realizing their pursuer was out of rounds, the two remaining vampire hippies decided to take the opportunity to strike him head on. The first vampire, a surprisingly stereotypical-looking hippie with a long beard, dread locks, multicolored outfit and tinted spectacles, leaped toward his adversary in an attempt to frighten him upon approach.

He was met with a single fist to the jaw that sent him through a tree to his immediate right. The impact saved the agent the trouble of staking him through the heart with wood, as a large limb protruded from his chest before he dissolved away.

The second vampire, a young woman who paralleled the previous vampire's appearance, was about to follow his lead until she witnessed what this individual was capable of doing. Skidding to a halt, she quickly sought to retreat back to the campsite. She took four running strides toward the camp, her dark dread locks waving in her face.

She stopped dead once again as a bullet pierced through her forehead. As her sight faded, she looked up at the shadow of a man dressed in black, whose eyes shined a pale green in the shadows created by the orange light of the campfires mixed with the silver of the full moon at his back.

All faded to a dull red as she fell to the ground, dead.

The new agent, choosing to wear a black trench coat and golden tie instead of the traditional all black business suits, lowered his still smoking pistol to his side and replaced it in the holster beneath his coat. His blonde hair shimmered slightly in the campfire light which now began to smolder with the ashes of the vampire who he had managed to strike in the shoulder.

"I was surprised to see you miss that one, Agent Felix," the agent said, motioning toward the pile of ash that covered the muffled flames.

"Cut me some slack, Vitus," Wesley said, watching as the air around the embers churned and roiled with heat. He always found campfires to be mesmerizing, especially the warm oranges and yellows. "I don't have the reflexes you do."

"Might I suggest you calm yourself down?" Agent Vitus said. "Your eyes are still shimmering."

"Oh," Wesley said, blinking his eyes as though an insect had flown in front of his face. "I'm still not quite used to this…" The green glow that filled his pupils slowly faded with each blink of his eyes.

"It's to be expected after such a recent operation," Agent Vitus said.

"I kind of wish it was automatic, like yours."

"You wish you had all the visual settings I have."

Amidst their conversation, the snap of a twig snapped them both to attention. Vitus quickly drew one of his pistols and Wesley swung the M1 Garand he had strapped to his back into his hands, both of them ready to shoot.

From behind the van the vampires had brought, the young redheaded girl stood wide eyed with fear.

"Is she… you know…" Wesley whispered.

"No."

They both lowered their weapons. Wesley walked over to her, smiling warmly.

"Not to worry. We're not going to hurt you."

She stepped out from behind the van, her hands shaking at her sides.

"Um… Vitus! Can you come over and make sure this girl isn't injured? I'm going to do one last sweep of the premises. Come right over here, Agent Vitus will take care of you."

Wesley led the girl over to Agent Vitus, who looked over her face for injury. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he quickly and precisely jabbed a spot on her neck. Her body tensed for a moment, then relaxed completely as she fell unconscious. Wesley caught her before she fell.

"How long will she be out?"

"Approximately three hours."

"And do we know who she is?"

"Facial scans give a positive identification. She doesn't live far from here."

"Alright, let's get going."

Vitus headed toward where they had parked the car, leaving Wesley to carry the girl.

"…Jeez, thanks for the help."

Wesley lifted the girl up into his arms, her head falling against his shoulder.

"_Facial scans just from that quick look…"_ Wesley thought. "_Nice having an android as a partner."_

Wesley headed down through the forest after Vitus, leaving the former vampire campsite with a barely smoldering pit of embers, an ownerless guitar, an empty van, and piles of ashes that slowly whisked away into the wind. The full moon reached the peak of its ascension in the sky above as the two agents drove off towards the girl's home.

* * *

><p>A month previous to his mission in Arizona, Wesley was inducted into the government agency known as the Men in Black. After his recovery from the vampire attack resulting in the death of his family, he was escorted to a government facility based in Nevada. Upon arrival in the air force base, he was taken via military escort to another section of the compound. Agent Vitus accompanied him on the journey.<p>

"So I don't get it. The Men in Black are just the stuff of tabloids, aren't they?" Wesley said, sitting in the back of an escort vehicle.

"The organization itself was introduced during the middle of the nineteenth century," Agent Vitus explained. "You see, back then America was the land of opportunity for thousands upon thousands of immigrants. You can imagine what managed to slip through the cracks among all those crowds."

"Why hasn't the public even heard of you people until now?"

"Well, back then, the organization was rather thrown together. Vampires and other creatures were taking advantage of the growing cities and populated areas to hunt unseen. So how do you hunt what hunts in the shadows? You either find someplace darker, or you hide in plain sight. That's what we did. We dressed up in dark business suits to blend in with the crowd and kill bloodsuckers from afar. As you can imagine, the vampire population grew quite a bit with the numerous prey and hiding places available. With so many, public killings would have started panics, so covert operations were the far more sensible choice. This continued for decades, but the organization still didn't have a definite title."

"So how'd the name come around?"

"It's actually a rather recent development," Vitus continued. "You see, thanks to a spike in extraterrestrial sightings in the late fifties and sixties, the federal government assigned us these cases believing there might actually be some supernatural connection or relevance to them."

"And was there?"

"No. Not in the slightest. As a matter of fact, it was all either a hoax or wild claims by non-reputable sources. So, in order to try and save ourselves some embarrassment on a national scale, we requested that those who had seen these supposed extraterrestrials remain quiet on the matter, including our interrogations of them. Of course, you know how that went. They ran right for the newspapers and claimed that government agents had threatened them to shut up."

"They exposed you?"

"Almost. However, with a great stroke of luck, these claims were about as believable as the extraterrestrial sightings due to the fact that the agents we sent could only be described by the manner of their dress. Black suits. So, the public dubbed us the Men in Black. Since then, the name has stuck."

"So… you're not a secret organization."

"Incorrect. The public believes we handle extraterrestrial sightings and top secret military weapons development with alien technologies. However, we deal primarily with supernatural threats to the United States, including vampires, ghouls, werewolves, you name it. So the public identity holds no affiliation to our organization, and claims are passed off as crazy conspiracy theory. We hide in plain sight, just as we used to, and our purposes remain out of the public eye."

"So what did you call yourselves before Men in Black?"

"Oh, a number of things. First, we were the 'Federal Supernatural Defense League'. Then we became the 'Federal Division of Supernatural Inquiry'. Heck, one agent opted that we be referred to as the 'Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency'."

"They went for a name like that?" Wesley laughed.

"Actually, that name was scrapped right off the bat, but there were a couple badges printed with that name across the top, so there is recorded evidence of it occurring," Vitus explained.

"So where are we going right now?" Wesley asked, trying to look out the heavily tinted window of the car to discern their location.

"Our headquarters. You know it as Area 51."

Wesley turned to Vitus with wide eyes. "We're going to Area 51?"

"That's right, Agent Felix."

"What for?"

"Like I said, it's our base of operations. However, as you experienced during the attack on your home, you're not necessarily fit to take on a vampire just yet."

"So, what… am I going to be trained here?"

"That's part of it."

After pulling inside a large hanger bay, Wesley was escorted by Agent Vitus to a section of the base that appeared to be a mix between a chemistry lab and medical center. Beakers and flasks of chemicals and isotopes lined shelves and boiled over Bunsen burners, while X-ray and MRI tables waited in rooms down another hall.

Vitus led Wesley into a room with a surgical table sitting under a bright glaring operation light. Various instruments and wires hung from sections of the ceiling, some tipped with drill bits while others were equipped with long syringe needles. The sight of them made Wesley cringe at the thought of what Vitus had planned for him.

"Oh, don't worry," Vitus reassured him. "You won't be subjected to anything like that. Those are actually for my own treatment."

"_Your_ treatment?!" Wesley exclaimed, looking over the painfully large instruments with wonder. "They treat you with these things?"

"Not 'treat' so much as 'repair'," Vitus said.

"…What?"

"My word, how have I gone this long without telling you?" Vitus exclaimed to himself. "I'm not human at all. I'm one hundred percent machine."

Wesley, in spite of learning all sorts of national secrets, was struck silent by this simple comment.

"An android, I suppose is the correct definition for what I am," Vitus explained. "In fact, my name is an acronym, standing for 'Vampiric Identification and Termination for United States Security'."

Removing the mirrored shades he kept on his face, Vitus stared back at Wesley with a pair of bright blue electronic lights at the center of what resembled human eyes.

"So… so that's why the vampire back then couldn't bite you…" Wesley deduced.

"Correct," Vitus said. "My skin is actually comprised of reinforced steel isotopes with a hint of silver mixed in. Should a vampire attempt to strike at me, I'm perfectly capable of fending them off."

"I noticed…" Wesley said, recalling the vampire's broken fangs.

"I'm the latest of only a few models so far. But I'm equipped with the latest in human interaction processors as well as my own personality software."

"I'm sorry… what?"

Vitus chuckled. "I'm built to be semi-human, so as to not come across as frightening to people."

"Is that… is that what they're going to do to me?" Wesley asked hesitantly. "Turn me into some robot?"

"Oh, no, no. Far from it," Vitus said.

"Oh, thank God!" Wesley sighed.

"Although we are going to give you the latest in our innovations with anti-vampire biotechnology. If you'll follow me, Agent Felix."

From the operation room, Wesley was led into what looked to be a typical physician's ward. It looked exactly like the kind of room you visited for an annual physical rather than some top-secret medical facility.

"Please have a seat."

Wesley sat up on the bench, the paper sheets crumpling underneath him as he sat down.

"Am I here for a checkup? What gives?"

"Tell me, Agent Felix. Do you have any fear of needles?"

"Only the ones you have out over that lab table."

"Good. Then you can be awake for this operation. Please excuse me for a moment while I fetch our primary medical officer."

With that, Vitus left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving Wesley to sit in perpetual silence.

"_So far it's not entirely what I expected,"_ Wesley thought._ "I wonder if that Hellsing organization is anything like this…"_

He swung his feet back and forth, tapped his fingers against the sides of the bench, and gazed around the room with its bare white walls and annoying fluorescent lights. He glanced over the medical equipment in the room, which was pretty much the same as any other general health care facility. Cotton balls, tongue depressors, cotton swabs, a box of rubber gloves, and a small chrome sink. There wasn't a single aspect of the room that was out of the ordinary.

_"__I wonder what kind of person they have working as a medical officer in a place like Area 51…"_ Wesley thought. _"Must be a veteran. Having to put up with dissecting monsters and creatures… he's got to be a real toughie."_

A quick knock on the door snapped Wesley out of his thoughts. Vitus entered the room, shooting a quick smile at Wesley as he stepped inside.

"Agent Felix, I'd like you to meet Agent Wolfgang."

_"__Wolfgang…"_ Wesley thought, standing to meet his new associate. _"This guy must really be something to have a name like that!"_

Through the doorway stepped a young woman with long flowing red hair, stunning figure, vanilla white skin, and pale green eyes. She wore a dark blue button-up dress shirt and tie underneath her white lab coat, and she held a vanilla folder and clipboard in her left hand.

"Agent Ariel Wolfgang," she said, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Agent Felix."

Wesley was struck dumb for a moment at the sight of such a beautiful woman extending her hand to greet him. Blinking, he came back to his senses and swiftly grasped her hand with a firm handshake.

"I'm Felix! I mean, I'm Wesley. Agent Wesley Felix."

"Agent Wolfgang is one of our finest medical minds in the organization," Vitus said. "She has extensive knowledge in biochemistry, anatomy, genetics, neuroscience, and many other areas of the medical field. She is cooperating with other experts in the development of new 'anti-monster' technologies, so to speak. She will be overseeing your medical care and supervision while you are working with us."

"You sure can pick 'em, Vitus," Ariel said, looking Wesley up and down with a skeptical look. "But once this procedure is done, even he won't be something to scoff at."

"S…Scoff at?!" Wesley said in a hushed voice, more to himself than anyone else. "I was a soldier, for God's sake!"

"Be that as it may, Agent Felix," Ariel said, causing Wesley to jump slightly, "even you witnessed what the army's training was good for against what we see every day."

"I can't argue with that," Wesley said, running a nervous hand through his hair.

"That's why we're going to give you this," she said, pulling a transparent vial of silver fluid from the inside of her lab coat. The glass was surrounded by a protective metal casing and the liquid inside appeared to be swirling shades of grey and shimmering silver.

"_That's_ going inside _me?_" Wesley said, eyeing the fluid with apprehension.

"These are a dose of nanobots," Ariel explained. "You'll be receiving multiple injections of these microscopic devices over the course of your training. They will allow you to reconstitute your body in a number of different ways."

"Reconstitute…?" Wesley said, confused.

"You'll be able to change your body to better combat monsters," Vitus said.

"Wait… I can control these things?"

"With time and training, yes," Ariel continued. "You can make minute but effective changes to your body's structure during combat. For example, these could shift the materials that make up the surface of your skin to better protect from blunt trauma. With enough time, the result could be on par with Vitus' own defenses."

"So a vampire won't be able to bite me…!" Wesley said, beginning to imagine what would be possible with this biotech upgrade to his body.

"However, these machines do carry some form of risk," Ariel said. "You are going to be the first human trial for this treatment. And the first place these machines need to inhabit before becoming effective… is in your head."

"My brain?!"

"In order for them to react accordingly, it's vital they interact with your central nervous system. Just shooting them in anywhere could result in them going out of control and destroying entire portions of your body."

"So you want to shoot those little robots… which have the capacity to destroy my brain if something goes wrong… right into my head?"

"Again, this is one of many doses. This particular batch is programmed to interact with your various cerebral cortexes and some areas of the spinal cord. The first batch will be injected at the base of your skull, where the cerebellum rests at the lower part of your brain."

"But I'll be knocked out, right?"

"You will actually need to remain conscious, so you can tell us if there is anything going wrong during the operation."

Wesley was beside himself with anxiety over the process of this procedure. He took deep breaths, breathing through his nose and trying to weigh the pros and cons of what the Men in Black wanted to do to him.

"What will I be capable of…" Wesley finally said, "…if this operation is successful?"

"In truth," Ariel said, "the possibilities are endless."

There was a long silence as Wesley considered his options. Vitus looked him up and down, no doubt trying to predict what Wesley's response would be. Ariel moved her eyes from the vial in her hands back to Wesley, awaiting his answer.

Finally, Wesley gave a long, steady sigh.

"Do it."

* * *

><p>After the first few injections, including the first located in his nervous system and the second to various regions of his bone marrow, the third injection was scheduled after Wesley's gradual recovery from the previous two. For the third time within the month, Wesley was strapped down to a padded chair and given various sedatives to numb the pain of the small nanobots that would course through him after each session. This time, the bots would be traveling through his bloodstream.<p>

"Alright, Agent Felix," Ariel said for the third time. "I'm going to go over what exactly we're going to do to you today."

"You're going to shove a needle in me," Wesley said with a groan, tired from the pain and annoyed at the same old song and dance Ariel went through each time. "What else is new?"

"This injection is fashioned to be carried by your bloodstream throughout your body in order to begin synchronization to your body's various functions. This is the primary set of nanomachines that you will use to augment yourself physically. The previous injection for the bone marrow was to create reserves for your body to replenish, although you'll need more of those as time goes on and your bots wear out."

"And what sorts of pain will this one cause?"

"You'll most likely feel the most pain at the injection sites, due to the nanobots spreading from those points outward through your blood vessels. The sedatives we gave you should prevent pain from spreading throughout your body."

"And this is the last one I'll need?"

"Until you require a check-up, so to speak."

"Fine. Proceed, Agent Wolfgang," Wesley said, facing his eyes straight ahead and bracing for the needle's puncture.

"Very well, Agent Felix," Ariel said.

Fixing a syringe to a brace next to Wesley's chair, she gradually brought the needle over to Wesley's neck and punctured the needle into one of his jugular veins. She pressed down on the plunger, forcing the same metallic grey and silver fluid into the blood pumping down to Wesley's heart.

Wesley felt a sort of scratching sensation, almost like a painful version of an itch you couldn't reach beneath your skin. It spread from his neck down to his chest, becoming less painful as it went. Once he felt it reach his heart, he gasped as the small tingling sensations that had worked their way down suddenly spread throughout his body, like a swarm of clawing insects just burst out from his chest to down his arms and legs and even through his face.

Looking down at his arms, he noticed a small grey tinge coursing through the veins beneath his skin; the nanobots. It was a very light tinge of grey, but he watched as it flowed under his flesh, outlining the entirety of his circulatory system up to his fingers. He could only imagine how it looked on his face, and the thought didn't give him much comfort.

However, as he watched the noticeable grey lines slowly faded and dissipated, and his skin returned to normal. The pain in his neck refused to subside, but there was a clear reason for that. He felt a trickle of warm blood drip down his neck as the needle was carefully removed and his neck cleaned and patched.

"Once those sedatives fade, you'll feel noticeably sore. That's due to the nanobots integrating themselves into your muscle tissue and various other portions of your body. But, other than that, you will be able to begin testing within a matter of weeks. How do you feel?"

"Like a million bucks," Wesley said, pressing a hand to the bandage that covered his neck.

* * *

><p>Training to master these new machines inside his body took more time than Wesley had imagined. Things started out small, like trying to have the bots assist in the mending of small cuts or bruises. These immune-like responses didn't take long to master, but the types of injuries had to be calibrated into the nanobot's memories, so almost every type of wound needed to be exacted in order to be healed and, therefore, have the necessary processes stored.<p>

This included the breaking of bones.

"We want to make this as painless as possible," Ariel was saying. "We just need to know which bone you wouldn't mind having us break."

"Are you nuts?!" Wesley said, glaring at Ariel. "I've never broken a bone in my life! I have no idea what kind of pain that causes!"

"It's quite surprising that you didn't sustain any such trauma when you were attacked by those vampires…" Vitus commented. "Many survivors aren't nearly as lucky."

"Trying to guilt me into this, Vitus?" Wesley asked.

"Not in the least," Vitus said. "Just reminding you that our enemies are much more likely to tear you apart limb from limb than just break a bone or two. Compared to them, we're being more than generous."

"I don't…" Wesley started to say, but realized what Vitus was telling him. He would be facing far worse out in the field, and if these machines could heal his wounds, there wouldn't be much to worry about. It needed to be done. He extended a shaking hand to Vitus, looking away and grimacing as he prepared for the impending pain.

"I'll make it a clean break," Vitus said. "The pinky finger will be the least troublesome to deal with."

"Just make it quick…" Wesley said, clenching his teeth.

Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands lifting his face upward. Ariel gently faced him toward her, looking directly into his eyes and staring deeply. Wesley was at a loss for words; her green eyes were mesmerizing.

"Just relax," she said. "I'm right here."

Wesley couldn't find the words for a response.

_Snap!_

Wesley muffled a yell from the pain that shot up his hand and arm from the broken bone, and the dull throbbing ache that followed was numbed slightly by the adrenaline that had slipped into his bloodstream from both the anticipation and the break itself. Ariel removed her hands from his face, quickly splinting and wrapping the broken finger.

To Wesley's surprise, the pain in his finger began to fade quite quickly. The unusual, out-of-place feeling he had in his finger was slowly shifting back into place and becoming stronger. After around five minutes, the bone felt completely healed, like nothing had ever happened. Ariel removed the wrap and splint.

"Try moving it, please."

Wesley bent and flexed his fingers and found no unusual feelings in his formerly broken finger.

"Wow…" he said. "It's done already."

"Alright, that covers cuts, bruises, burns, sprains, torn muscles, and even the removal of foreign objects from your system. Now we can cross broken bones off the list."

"Is that all there is?"

"There's some that you'll have to experience firsthand if you want them to be implemented," Ariel said. "Some things we just can't do with your express permission."

"What could be so-"

"Like gouging your eyes out," Vitus said, cutting him off.

Wesley shut his mouth, not wanting to imagine something like that being required of him.

"There's one more common injury we can subject you to here. It shouldn't be too bad," Ariel continued.

"Really? What's that?"

"Concussions," Ariel said.

"Wha-"

Vitus struck Wesley hard over the head, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

><p>Time continued to pass as Wesley became more and more adept with his new biotech upgrades. Soon, he was assigned to missions of varying degrees of severity, first going up against regular humans associated with underground vampiric organizations. One such mission had him set to track down and interrogate one such representative. And on each mission, Vitus accompanied him to track his progress and render assistance when necessary. The two agents now followed their target down a darkened sidewalk during the middle of the night in a rather deserted part of a nearby town. The individual in question turned down a dark alleyway.<p>

"I'll head him off at the nearest intersection," Vitus said.

"No need, Vitus," Wesley said with a confident smile. "I'll handle this one on my own."

His dark trench coat flowing behind him, Wesley rushed into the alley in pursuit of the target. Vitus followed, walking at a gradual pace.

"He's certainly made progress. He can definitely handle a simple-"

A fierce sound of hissing and howling erupted from the shadows of the alley.

An ambush.

Vitus rushed to the alley's entrance, and could clearly distinguish Wesley's figure in the dark, wrestling with what appeared to be the attacking vampire who had leapt from above down onto his back. Their intended target stood by, watching the spectacle with a smug grin on his face.

Vitus drew his pistols, and set the vampire in his sights.

Before he could get off a round, however, Wesley managed to yank off the vampire from his back, toss it above his head, catch it by the throat, and pin it to the ground, all with one hand. The cracking of concrete resounded off the alley's walls.

The sound of a silenced gunshot puffed through the air as well, signaling the death of the vampire.

The informant, in a fit of panic, drew his own gun and shot for the single overhead lamp that illuminated the alleyway. The shattering of glass and the spark of the broken light bulb gave way to concealing darkness.

Vitus's systems automatically switched his cybernetic visual sensors to night vision, and in the green glow he could see both Wesley and the target clearly. He was trying to run back towards Vitus and out the alley before Wesley could notice.

But before he could make it halfway, Wesley spun around and shot him straight through the heart. The man dropped dead in the middle of the alley, a corpse before he even struck the pavement.

"Well, well," Vitus said, sheathing his pistols. "Looks like you've made more progress than I thought. Both enhanced strength and night vision adaptations already. Very impressive, Agent Felix."

Switching back to regular vision, two glints of glowing green eyes just barely illuminated the smile on Wesley's face.

END EPISODE II


	3. Hellsing: Afterlight - Episode III

Episode III

The city of Los Angeles was lit with the bustle of the night, hotels and large business buildings speckled with the lights in their rooms and offices. The streets were a blur of color, white headlights blasting in front and red tail lights streaming behind. Red, yellow, and green traffic lights were matched with the bright neon lights in the various restaurants and bars that checkered the sidewalks. It was a typical night in a big city.

"And they say New York is the city that never sleeps…" Wesley said to himself as he and Agent Vitus drove down the traffic-filled streets. "How are we going to find our target in a place like this?"

"Why do you think they call it 'hunting'?" Vitus asked. "It's rare for vampiric targets to go on a rampage and become easy to track down. Most of those cases are newborn vampires who become drunk with their bloodlust, but the more prominent vampires are experienced and know how to stay hidden in plain sight, just like us."

"And we're alone in this hunt?"

"Not necessarily. The Vatican has multiple branch connections with its various Catholic denominations within the United States. The same goes for the Hellsing Organization. Their links with the Protestant churches allow for influence here as well."

"America really is a melting pot," Wesley chuckled. "But… if we are the organization that primarily associates with Hellsing, does that mean there are organizations that side with the Iscariot Organization as well?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Vitus said with a shrug.

"So your information isn't all-encompassing…" Wesley said with an unimpressed look.

"That being said," Vitus continued, "we don't know how many other singular organizations there are in this nation."

"Huh," Wesley said, resting his head on his right arm as he leaned against the window. He gazed up and outside, admiring the passing lights of the cityscape. He squinted at the traffic lights as they shot straight into his eyes, and shifted his gaze down to the passing pedestrians on the sidewalk. He raised an eyebrow as a fairly attractive young woman passed by his gaze.

"_Wonder if this secret agent gig will have any appeal to the ladies…_" Wesley thought, smiling as he imagined various cheesy pickup lines and ridiculous dating situations.

They drove past and Wesley looked back at the woman in the side-view mirror, trying to distinguish her facial features.

In the timespan of the blink of an eye, a pair of pale hands reached out from an alleyway between two buildings and yanked the woman into the waiting shadows.

"Stop the car!" Wesley yelled, not waiting to open the door and leap out onto the pavement.

"Felix, what has gotten into you?!" Vitus called as he slammed on the brakes.

"We've got a snatcher!" Wesley called back, drawing his pistol and running towards the alley.

"Jumping the gun once again…!" Vitus mumbled, pulling over into an available parallel parking space. He burst out of the car, heading after Wesley as fast as he could.

Wesley reached the alley's entrance, eyes already glowing green with night vision. As hard as he looked, he couldn't discern anything in the dim light of the streets.

"Agent Felix!" Vitus called to him.

"Come on! We need to find them!"

"Hold."

"What?!"

"I said hold!" Vitus said sternly. "Now think! If he's not here feeding off of her immediately, what do you think he's planning to do?"

Wesley steadied his breathing, eyes darting back and forth as he considered the possibilities.

"He intends to feed in a more secluded location."

"Possibly worse," Vitus said. "He might be retreating to a hive."

"There are nests of these things?"

"And now would be a perfect opportunity to track him back to his hideout and exterminate the vampires at their source." Vitus said, tapping his temple and switching on an infrared scan. "Excitement will cause the temperature of the human body to elevate, and there may be traces of the heat trail in the air… there!"

Vitus ran a few yards into the alley before wall jumping all the way up to the rooftops in a matter of seconds.

"_Man, I hate chasing things down…_" Wesley thought, reluctantly following Vitus' lead. He used the nano machines in his system to adjust the muscle density in his body, allowing him to imitate Vitus' moves almost perfectly, although Wesley's execution was less fluid and much noisier. Once he had reached the rooftop where Vitus was waiting for him, he was already winded.

"Major physical changes still seem to be taxing you quite a bit," Vitus noted. "That kind of frequent use will come with time. Regardless, let's move. The trail is starting to fade."

The two agents sprinted across the rooftops, following the heat signature of the captured human. After navigating their way over the city below, they tracked the heat signature back to a run-down and seemingly abandoned hotel building quite a distance from the capture site. The red glow of the flickering neon light casted a foreboding and inconsistent shadow over the edges of the building, barely illuminating the worn and tattered brickwork that lined the edges of the roof.

"No rooftop access to the building," Wesley said, looking over the near completely flat hotel roof.

"The front door is always an option," Vitus said, walking up to the edge of the building.

"Isn't that a little obvious?"

"Yes, but then they'll be expecting us to not be obvious."

Wesley just shook his head, but nonetheless followed Vitus to the building's edge.

"Down there," Vitus said, pointing towards the front door of the hotel.

Looking down, Wesley could discern a lone guard at the door dressed in a rather cheesy bellhop outfit.

"How many people do you know whose bodies can survive at a below fifty degree core temperature?"

"Only the vampires," Wesley said, drawing his pistol.

The bellhop vampire kicked at a stone that was near his foot, when the ground below him began to darken. A shadow grew rapidly darker and sharper as it surrounded him, and the vampire's eyes darted up. They were met with the crushing soles of Wesley's shoes as he came crashing down from five stories up. The vampire's head was forced straight down, the rest of his body flopping upward upon impact. It was at this moment that Vitus slammed down on the vampire's abdomen, his entirely metal cybernetic skeleton crushing the bones and pavement beneath him. The nearly simultaneous crack of each of them landing resounded through the night air, and a single gunshot silenced any further possible sound that the vampire could create.

"Smooth landing…" Wesley said, the nanobots in his system straightening and repairing the cracked bones and bruised muscles in his feet and legs.

Vitus drew his twin pistols from within his jacket, and proceeded to kick down the front door with a loud crash. Wesley followed close behind, pistol ready.

In the ensuing firefight, an entire nest of vampires took on two agents from the Men in Black. Vitus' twin pistols either killed or maimed a majority of the hive's initial strike force, while Wesley managed to kill those that Vitus missed. Once their rounds were depleted, the transition to hand-to-hand combat was quick. Vitus had no trouble fending off the bloodsuckers with his metal armored skin and powerful blows. Wesley changed the skin on his fists and neck to a density similar to steel, breaking jaws and smashing bones with each blow of physically enhanced muscle mass and extra shots of adrenaline.

The hive was exterminated in a matter of minutes.

"Man… I can't get over how sharp their fangs are," Wesley said, watching as the bites on his arms gradually closed and healed.

"Consider yourself lucky. Without those machines in your system, you'd be a vampire soon after all the bites you've taken," Vitus said, testing the movement in his hands.

"You alright?"

"Just making sure everything's working optimally. Look around for the woman they kidnapped."

With that, Wesley searched the various rooms of the hotel for the woman he had seen. After a fair amount of searching, he had worked his way up to the fourth floor of the hotel without so much as a clue as to where she could be. By now, Vitus had run his systems check and was assisting in the search, moving up to the fifth floor so as to cover more ground.

"Man, this place is a dump," Wesley said, his shoes dragging pieces of the old carpeting that lined the halls. It was the ideal spot to make a vampiric hideout; curtains to keep out the sun on every window, lots of room to move around and store supplies, and right near a city with a plentiful source of nourishment. The musky smell of the place was complimented by the peeling wallpaper and stained ceiling tiles, and the doors were covered with chipping red paint.

"Well, I guess if animals like that need a home, this would be ideal."

Walking into what Wesley assumed was the hundredth hotel room he'd seen that night, he was about to take a step inside when he caught sight of what lay before him.

Wesley was looking at a laboratory, crudely thrown together in a tight hotel room. Tables had been brought in and were covered with chemistry equipment, from beakers to Bunsen burners to test tubes. A long network of plastic tubing connected various vials and canisters that hung from the ceiling. And yet in all these various pieces of glasswork, one color stood out inside each and every one: blood red. It coated the inside of every glass vial, of every plastic tube, of every single empty syringe that was strewn about the room.

"What… the hell…?"

"Agent Felix, do you copy?" Vitus' voice called from the two-way speaker Wesley kept clipped on the inside of his trench coat.

"Vitus, you're going to want to see this."

"I've got an entire room's worth of furniture jammed into an already fully furnished room up here."

"And I know why."

"What?"

"Just get down here."

While he awaited Vitus' arrival, Wesley set about searching the room. Navigating his way among the blood stained chemistry tools he found no trace of the woman.

"_Dang, even if we don't find her, I'd say we've stumbled onto something big,_" Wesley thought, looking about him. The network of tubes that dangled just a few inches from his head all streamed up into coils and joined at the center of the ceiling where a ceiling fan looked to have originally been hanging.

"_Wait…_"

Following the trail of coiled tubes, he traced them over to a hole in the wall adjacent to the room's bathroom. Rushing over and yanking the door open, a rank mixed smell of old and fresh blood blasted into Wesley's nostrils, causing him to recoil and cover his mouth as he coughed and spat. Looking back into the room, a gruesome sight met his eyes.

Sprawled out in the bathtub was the woman who had been kidnapped, the tubes threaded into various parts of her body, drawing blood from her system. She seemed incredibly faint, her entire body pale and her breathing shallow.

"Oh my God… Vitus! Vitus, get down here now!" Wesley yelled into his radio.

He took tentative steps toward the edge of the bath, which was stained red with the woman's blood and the blood of previous victims. Her eyes were cloudy and she was gasping for air.

"Can you hear me? Hang in there, okay? Everything's going to be fine. We're here to help you."

The woman turned her head slowly, almost painstakingly, towards Wesley. Her face was filled with sorrow and pain, and her body shook as it tried to sustain its own temperature with what little blood was left. Taking a long gasp of air into her lungs, it seemed like she was trying to say something.

"Miss, please don't talk. Save your strength. I'm going to get you out of here. Vitus!" he yelled into the radio again.

"Agent Felix, I'm here!" Vitus called from the hall. His footsteps grew rapidly louder as he approached the room. "What is-"

He was struck blank at the sight of the laboratory and the woman drained of blood.

"Do something!" Wesley demanded.

"I'll call in our medical unit. They need to see this," Vitus said, pressing something behind his ear. "Agent identification: Vitus. Get me direct access to our medical department."

The woman gave a large gasp, louder than before.

"Ma'am, please remain calm! We're here to-"

"…thirsty…" she wheezed.

"Vitus, get me a glass of water for her!" Wesley said.

"Right!" Vitus said, moving to try and find a useable glass from another room.

"…thirsty…" she gasped again.

"We're getting you a drink, just remain ca-… calm…"

Wesley's brow furrowed, his eyes narrowed, and his shoulders slouched. He breathed a hard sigh of disappointment.

The woman's eyes were wide now, and shined a bloodthirsty red. Fangs gleamed from within her mouth as she gasped for air. Her breaths now came out in gasping wheezes and low hisses. She bit at the air, straining towards the sight of a fresh meal.

"Damn it…" Wesley spat, drawing his pistol and loading a fresh magazine of rounds.

He placed the barrel of the gun flush to the woman's forehead.

"I'm sorry."

With a single gunshot, the woman's body fell limp.

* * *

><p>The agents from the medical unit of the Men in Black were bringing the removal of the vampire's lab equipment to a close. Due to the traffic, the woman's body was one of the last things to be removed from the premises. Covered with a pale white blanket that had patches of red soaking through, Wesley carried the remains down from the room only to be met with a new obstacle waiting outside the door.<p>

In the bright red neon light of the hotel, outside stood what looked to be a sort of angry mob. Dark eyes stared out from underneath white veils. On their white robes was visible the same distinct patch, a red circle with a white cross at its center.

"Just keep moving, Agent Felix," one of the other agents advised him.

"Who are they?"

"Don't tell me this is the first time you've seen the Klan in action," Vitus said, walking up from behind Wesley.

"The… Klan? You mean the Ku Klux Klan?"

"The very same. Remember when you asked about the other organizations that exist in the United States? Here's an example."

As they moved to place the woman's body inside one of the vans the medical unit had provided, one of the men from the crowd stepped forward.

"That woman belongs to us," he said in a loud, commanding voice.

"By whose authority?" Vitus asked, stepping forward to meet him.

"That is none of your concern. Hand her over."

"I think you'll find we have the situation entirely under control."

"This situation doesn't concern the likes of you. This falls under the Klan's jurisdiction."

"Unless you can provide me with the proper information, there's nothing I can do for you."

"There is no need for us to provide you with anything. Our authority in this country goes back further than your entire organization. We have the authority of our fathers, and their fathers before them, and from God himself!"

"Be that as it may, you won't be getting anywhere near that body. It contains valuable information that could lead to the continuation of human kind."

"It is our sworn duty to protect the purity of our great society!" the man yelled. "Our God-given task is to eliminate the threats to God's chosen people! That thing is the remains of an abomination that must be purged from this world!"

In the next instant, Vitus' pistol was pointed directly between the man's eyes, scaring him into silence.

"The only abomination I see here is a people ignorant enough to believe they know what they're doing. Leave now or I'll be forced to arrest you."

The man, after a few moments' pause, begrudgingly stepped back into the crowd. Vitus replaced his weapon within his jacket and moved toward the van where Wesley was waiting.

The two agents boarded the back of the van where the woman's body laid covered. Another agent began to drive the van down the road away from the mob of Klansmen who protested angrily as they drove away.

"Do you deal with people like this all the time?" Wesley asked.

Vitus gave a single nod, staring down at the concealed corpse of the vampire woman.

* * *

><p>Back at the medical laboratories of the Men in Black's headquarters in Area 51, Agent Wolfgang was joined by Wesley and Vitus in the morgue to inspect the body of the young woman.<p>

"You… brought back a body?" Ariel asked, giving a curious look toward them.

"That's unusual?" Wesley asked.

"Think about it, Agent Felix…" Vitus said. "Our bullets are crafted from blessed silver and can destroy vampires upon impact. So if this woman is a vampire, how is her body still intact after receiving a point-blank shot from your pistol?"

"Maybe I used the wrong bullets…"

"Unlikely," Ariel said. "If it were a traditional bullet, the vampire's healing factor would have allowed it to heal in a matter of minutes."

"So what, are they becoming immune to silver now?"

"Of course not. If they had, taking down that hive would have been much more difficult," Vitus said.

"You say that like it was easy…" Wesley said with an annoyed glance.

"That's because it was," Vitus said. "The lack of combat experience for an entire hive of vampires was remarkable to say the least. In most cases, there is at least one vampire with the experience and skill to train their followers, but in this case there were a great number of vampires without a clear hierarchy."

"Maybe the head vampire managed to get away."

"Perhaps…" Vitus said. "But uncommon. Many vampires will defend their territory at all costs, especially a prime location such as that hotel, at least once they have a hive amassed."

"There's more," Ariel said, looking up from her inspection of the body. "This woman has no bite wounds."

"What?" Vitus and Wesley said in unison.

"Any puncture wounds you can see are from the needles. There isn't a single mark from a fang on her entire body."

"Then… how…?" Wesley asked.

"I don't know."

As they all stood puzzled, another medical agent entered the morgue, carrying with him a small blue cooler.

"Excuse me, Agent Wolfgang," he said. "There's something here you need to see."

Opening the cooler's lid, inside was a plastic container, much like a medicine jar, that was stuffed in ice.

"Where did you get this?" Ariel asked.

"When we were clearing out that hotel room a few nights ago, we discovered this cooler beneath the sink in the restroom."

Removing the plastic jar from the cooler, he removed the cap and poured a few of the jar's contents out onto his hand. Out of the jar rattled a few red tablets that almost looked like candies.

"Vitus, if you don't mind," Ariel said, passing one of the tablets off to him.

Vitus held the pill between his thumb and forefinger, holding it steadily before his eyes. His pupils began to glow blue as he stared at the little red sphere, and he said nothing nor moved an inch for a few moments.

"Frozen blood capsules," Vitus finally said, still maintaining his gaze.

"Specific contents?" Ariel asked.

"Human blood mixed with that of a vampire… no… wait…"

Vitus brought the pill closer to his eyes, and the glow intensified as he increased the detail of his scan.

"It's blood from the same source… but in mid-metamorphosis. This blood is in the midst of transferring the vampiric trait to the human cells."

"And kept cool to slow or possibly stop the process…" Ariel said, looking back at the cooler in the agent's arms. "Please, leave that here. You're dismissed."

"So what does this all mean?" Wesley asked.

"If my theory is correct…" Ariel began, "…the blood harvested from this woman, as well as other previous victims, was taken in the middle of the transformation process from human to vampire."

"She wasn't fully transformed, which is why the silver in your bullets didn't cause her body to fall apart," Vitus explained.

"But what good does putting this blood into tablets do them?"

"It's a way to spread the virus without coming into contact with them," Ariel said. "They must have been testing them out on the human subjects at the same time they were harvesting the blood. That's why there are no bite marks on this victim."

"So the trials were successful…" Vitus said.

"To a degree, it seems…" Ariel said. "At least enough to cause them to thirst for blood before fully transforming. From what you've told us, Agent Felix, this seems to be the case."

"So now we have a drug that can change people into vampires…" Wesley said, inspecting the pellets in the jar. "…This is bad."

"Indeed it is. We need to eradicate the people behind this vampire drug and quickly. Otherwise, we'll have an epidemic on our hands that even the Men in Black won't be able to stop."

* * *

><p>As the clock headed towards midnight, a group of men assembled at their neighborhood church. A small cathedral, it consisted of a small entryway, main worship area, and a small changing room for the priest and altar servers. The priest who headed the church stood before the mirror in his closet, checking his appearance as he draped a white robe over his shoulders. He made sure the red patch with the white cross was visible at the center of his uniform.<p>

One of the men who had come to join in the ceremony knocked on the door to the dressing room.

"Father Michael?"

"Yes?"

"Forgive my interruption, but… are you sure this is such a good idea?"

"Positive."

"But, father…" the man continued, "…not only are you already at odds with the heads of our order, but you also failed to retrieve that girl's body…"

"We had been seeking out that hive for ages…" Father Michael said. "And when the time came for us to purify our slowly degrading city, those so-called agents hinder our cause."

"Please, father, I ask you to reconsider."

"David… do you lack faith?"

"What? No, father, of course n-"

"Then why do you debate this matter?"

"It just doesn't seem right, father."

"We are doing God's will," Father Michael reassured David. "God chose us, his purest creations, to purge this world of abominations to His name. Jews, negroes, Catholics, and vampires… all of these things are in defiance of God. We shall be the flood that purges the world of these imperfections."

While he spoke, he donned a scarlet red pointed hat and veil.

"Tonight, we prove that God's will is with us. Tonight, we show those foolish agents the powers they are reckoning with. The divine fist of God shall smite our enemies forevermore."

"I don't understand…" David said, as he donned his own white veiled hat. "What sort of power could we bring forth that could rival that of the divine?"

"Tonight, my son, you shall witness and believe," Father Michael said.

The two men, donning their Klan uniforms, made their way out to the altar. Eight other men stood waiting for them, while atop the altar was something writhing and churning beneath a dark silk sheet. Chains nailed down to each corner of the altar rattled loudly, and muffled snarling could be heard beneath the dark fabric.

"Shut the windows and lock the doors," Father Michael instructed. "We shall have no intruders disturb us this night."

The men did as they were instructed. In the dim light of the candles they had lit, Father Michael tossed aside the dark veil covering the writhing form that was chained to the altar.

A vampire's red eyes flashed out at the priest, its mouth gagged with a large stone that kept its jaws nearly completely open. It pulled and struggled against its bindings, but to no avail. It attempted to maintain its threatening appearance by lunging towards the men who surrounded him, but it soon tired and fell breathless onto the altar.

"My brothers," Father Michael said. "Let us begin."

From within his robes, he drew a long dagger. He immediately slit the wrists and ankles of the vampire, causing it to howl in pain and struggle again. The activity caused its blood to flow down the edges of the altar, where basins had been placed to collect the dripping crimson fluid.

"Mark yourselves, my brothers," Father Michael instructed.

Each man collected blood at the tips of their fingers, drawing inverted crosses on the foreheads of their veils and on their chests.

"Umbra obscurior…" Father Michael recited, "Interfectorem mortuis et emundans sanguine. Atque hoc ritu vobis mandamus quod est verbum Dei."

As he spoke, the blood seeping from the vampire began to flow upward towards the center of the altar. Soon a pool of the vampire's own blood surrounded him, and trails of it began to stream up into the air above the vampire's body. The inverted crosses on each of the men's heads slowly turned from red to black, and smoke began to rise from each marking. The smoke seeped into the blood, slowly changing it from a bright red into a deep dark maroon.

"Voco nomen tuum: Sanguis equiti, Sancti Tenebrosi, Angelo Niger…"

The blood began to collate and fuse into a hovering mass of dark blood. It began to twist and shape into a humanoid form, details slowly becoming more definite. The blood faded into pale grey skin and long, silver hair. Suddenly two massive black wings burst from the figure's back, spraying blood across the room. It breathed a deep, raspy breath of air and its body cracked and snapped as bones began to form beneath its flesh.

"…Crusnik!"

A bolt of lightning struck straight down through the ceiling of the church, striking the figure and incinerating the spare blood surrounding it. The smell of burnt skin and hair filled the church as black smoke billowed through the air. The men surrounding the altar coughed and gasped for air, falling to the floor to try and get below the suffocating black clouds. As the smoke and ash cleared, the men's gazes all turned back to the altar.

Standing above the charred skeleton of the vampire they had sacrificed, a man dressed in a flowing grey cloak stared back at them with pale white eyes. Plated armor covered his shoulders and chest as well as his shins, giving him a semi-medieval appearance. He held a black lance in his right hand, tipped with a barbed silver spearhead. The gleam of the spear tip was only matched by the shine of his armor and his own silver hair, which ran down past his shoulders. In comparison to the grey tone of his skin, his eyes were like piercing white lights. His most impressive feature, however, was the pair of black wings he kept folded behind his back, which ran from above his shoulders down to his ankles.

"An… an angel…" the men began to whisper, many in wonder, some in fear.

The creature turned its head toward Father Michael, who removed his veil and knelt on the ground.

"Sent from our Lord to bring about the purification of the world!" he said, holding his hands up in reverence. "Now, servant of our God, do as we bid you! Purge this city of angels of its plague!"

The figure said nothing, but merely pointed its spear toward the priest.

"No one commands the Crusnik Zerachiel."

In a flash, a bolt of lightning blasted from the tip of the spear and destroyed the priest's head. His smoldering headless corpse fell to the ground with a thud.

The other men were sent into an immediate panic. They scrambled for the solitary exit at the back of the chapel, only to be struck down by a few more concussive bolts of lightning from the Crusnik's lance.

Zerachiel stepped out of the church, breathing in the night air. He smiled, barring two pairs of sharp fangs.

"I smell impure souls…" he said, spreading his wings.

With a single buffet of air, he vanished into the night sky, leaving the mangled corpses of the Klansmen strewn about the pews of the church.

* * *

><p>Alucard sat in the back of the limousine the Hellsing Organization had arranged for him as the driver closed the door behind him. Instead of his usual crimson trench coat and fedora, he wore a pitch black dress suit and dark scarlet tie. His hair was long and flowing, but he still kept his bright red-orange glasses on. The car vibrated slightly as the engine started, and soon they were rolling out of the Washington Dulles International Airport, just west of Washington D.C.<p>

"How are you this evening, sir?" the driver asked, looking in the rearview mirror towards the grinning vampire. "Rather unpleasant weather we're having today. Thick overcast with no sign of the sunlight anywhere."

"I prefer to stay out of the sun," Alucard said, glancing out the window. A loud beeping sound caught him off guard, and he drew his pistol in anticipation of a bomb.

"Oh, sir! Please don't worry!" the driver called back to him. "That's just the phone."

"A phone?" Alucard asked.

"Yes, a cellular phone, they call it. I don't know why they bother with such a device. It's far too bulky to be of any use. I don't see it going anywhere. But anyway, it's in that cubby drawer in front of you."

Opening a small compartment, Alucard removed a thick black box of a phone with bulky plastic buttons and large antennae sticking straight out of the top. He looked over the device curiously, pressing the green button out of simple instinct.

"Alucard? Can you hear me?" Arthur Hellsing's voice said through some static.

"Yes, my master," Alucard said, placing the phone over his ear.

"These devices are incredible," Arthur mused. "Just think. Soon everyone will be carrying devices like this everywhere they go!"

"They'd better make them smaller…" Alucard said. "Otherwise it's just a pain."

"One step at a time," Arthur said.

"What exactly was your goal in sending me to America?" Alucard asked. "We've already lent a hand in that God forsaken excuse for a war of theirs. These Americans and their anti-communist crusades have put the whole world in a state of tension."

"Nevertheless, they still provide Britain with a variety of resources, many of which aid the construction of our anti-vampiric armaments. Consider this a method of repayment," Arthur said.

"And the Men in Black will be lending their support as well?" Alucard asked.

"They will, indeed. I have also heard that there is a particular rising star among their agents. You've met him before."

"That boy from the battlefield…" Alucard said. "Wesley Felix…"

"We have reports from the Men in Black stating that there is a threat of a vampiric epidemic on the rise," Arthur explained. "Not only that, but we have also learned of interference from the members of the radical Protestant organization known as the Ku Klux Klan."

"More pompous religious radicals to continue spreading violence and ignorance throughout the world's population," Alucard smirked. "Their only real purpose in this world is to provide me with some entertainment."

"We hold no affiliation with these radicals, Alucard. Should they interfere, you have my permission to do as you see fit."

Alucard's smile grew wide at the mention of his freedom of choice.

"I sense you have a smile on your face," Arthur said. "Your silence says it all."

"I have a strong feeling about this mission, master…" Alucard said. "There's something here… and it just might turn out to be fun."

"You have your orders. My brother Richard will get back to you with further details," Arthur said. "…Now how do I turn this device off…?"

Alucard pressed the red button, ending the call. He chuckled to himself as the driver continued down the road toward his hotel.

END EPISODE III


	4. Hellsing: Afterlight - Episode IV

Episode IV

"Hey, come on, man! Quit holding out on us!"

"I told you already, you'll get it once we get back to the dorm! I can't just show you right now. We might get caught!"

A group of college fraternity jocks walked across the sidewalks of their campus, navy blue athletic jackets embroidered with patches and Greek letters, the words 'UC Riverside' sewn on the jacket chests. The sky was lit orange with the setting sun, and the street lamps began to glow as night's darkness grew over them. Out of the group of five, one kept his hand stuffed firmly inside his jacket, holding something close to his chest. Eventually, the group made their way to the dormitory's entrance, stepping inside and hurrying down the hallway excitedly.

"Do you have what I think you have, Mitch?" one said to the student with his hand in his jacket.

"Shut up! Do you want someone to hear?"

"No way! You did get your hands on some, didn't you?" another chimed in.

"Will you shut the hell up?! Now come on, get inside!"

The five boys hurried into the dorm room, a rather simple four-bedroom dorm with a single living space and kitchen. They rushed to the couch and chairs, gathering around in a small semicircle.

"Okay…" the student named Mitch said, taking one last glance around before removing an orange prescription bottle from his jacket and setting it on the table. "Here it is."

The bottle was without a label, but inside were several small, round, red pellets that filled about half the bottle. Each of the other four boy's eyes widened as enthusiastic smiles grew on their faces.

"Dude! You actually did it!"

"Wasn't easy. Had to really dig to get these babies."

"Are the rumors true? Can these really make you stronger?"

"The person who sold them to me said they'll make you stronger than the pro athletes!"

"No way! Do they work?"

"Hell if I know, but if they're the real deal, we'll soon find out won't we?"

"I don't know about this, guys…" one of the boys said, shrinking back somewhat.

"What's the matter, Andrew? Chicken?"

"We don't know what these things are made of!" Andrew continued to protest. "For all we know, they could kill you!"

"Okay, you pansy," one of the other boys said, shoving Andrew aside. He took the prescription bottle into his hands and opened it with a pop of the lid. "I'll prove to you that these things aren't scary. So how do we take these things anyway?"

"Crack it a little and sniff it up. Like you're trying to keep back a nosebleed," Mitch said.

Taking one of the pills between his fingers, he cracked it with a slight pinch and set it up against his nostrils, throwing his head back and inhaling sharply. A slight trickle of red fluid ran down the side of his face.

"What, did you miss?" one of the other boys chuckled.

"Shut up. It's just some excess. I got most of it."

"How do you feel?"

"I… don't really feel anything yet… but whoever's beating all those drums should quit it."

"Drums?"

"Yeah, there's like, six of them."

"Dude, no one's playing drums."

"What are you…?"

His eyes began to widen as his vision began to sharpen and become clearer than ever before. He could smell new scents that he couldn't detect previously, and could discern every one individually.

"Whoa! Guys! My senses just got kicked up a notch!" he exclaimed.

"No way! Is that a side effect?" Mitch asked, picking up one of the pills as well.

"Guys, you've got to try this!"

Excited by the potential these pills offered, all but Andrew followed the first boy's example, sniffing the red fluid within the pills enthusiastically.

"You were right!"

"Yeah, this is amazing! I feel like I can do anything right now!"

"Ow!" the first pill popper said, clutching at his mouth.

"What happened?"

"I just… bit my tongue…"

"Getting a little too excited, huh?" the others joked.

"Shut up. Just tell me, am I bleeding?"

He stuck out his tongue, and the other boys recoiled. There was a puncture wound going straight through his tongue, but the source of the puncture was even more frightening. Two long, pointed fangs now protruded from between his teeth.

"What happened… to your mouth?"

"I don't know, but… why does… my blood…"

He began to shift his tongue within his mouth, becoming delighted by the taste of his own blood. Eventually, the other three boys who had sniffed the liquid began to show similar symptoms, fangs and all. Andrew was the only one remaining who hadn't taken a dose.

"Andrew, you've got to try this!" they all insisted, pushing the pills toward him.

"What are you, crazy?!" Andrew exclaimed, becoming fearful. "Look what those things have done to you all!"

"It's so worth it!" Mitch said, breathing in deeply. "It's the greatest high I've ever felt!"

"I'm done with this!" Andrew finally said, heading towards the door. As he was about to reach the door handle, two of the boys appeared at his sides, taking a firm hold of both of his arms.

"Where do you think you're going?"

They dragged him back into the room, forcing him to the ground. A new red luster shimmered in their eyes as they pinned him down.

"We can't let you go and rat on us," Mitch said, a manic smile spreading across his face. His new fangs were gleaming with a slight hint of red; he still wasn't used to them, and had accidentally bitten through his own lip, causing a slight trickle of blood to run out of the corner of his mouth.

"I won't tell anyone! I swear! Come on guys, you know me!" Andrew said hysterically.

"We'll be able to do so much with this new strength," Mitch said. "Our time has just begun. I can't let you take this from me so soon! Guys! Hit the lights!"

One of the other boys flicked the light switch on the wall nearby, turning the room near pitch black save for the glow of the street lamps just outside the windows. From within the glow of this light, two things became clear: the menacing silhouettes and the red glow of the eyes of the new vampires, and the distinct shadow of a very tall figure standing just outside their room window.

Immediately taking notice, the boys spun round, eyes wide.

"Who the hell are you?!"

* * *

><p>Vitus took careful steps across the floor of the dorm. Bits of shattered glass cracked underfoot as he moved to analyze one of the bodies that had been strewn across the threshold of the now shattered dorm window. Wesley wasn't far off, taking samples from the other bodies in the room.<p>

"Any luck finding a blood sample?" Vitus asked, lifting his glasses before allowing his electric blue eyes to scan the windowsill.

"Only from the traces left by the single survivor," Wesley said, tossing a dry cotton swab into the nearby garbage bin. "I can't find a speck of blood on these corpses."

"Corpses drained?" a deep voice echoed as a large shadow drifted up in the open doorway of the dormitory. The shadow became surrounded by a crimson glow, gradually growing more definite. A pentagram insignia became distinct on top of a white glove that held in place a pair of round red-orange shades. A dark red cloak soon formed beneath a wide-brimmed fedora. "No blood? Struggling survivor? As far as I can tell, this is the work of an average vampire."

"When the hell did you-?!"

"Stealthy in your appearance as always, Alucard," Vitus said, giving a polite nod. "When did you arrive?"

"I arrived in America several days ago," Alucard said, walking into the room. "America's hospitality has never been disappointing. Small talk aside, I have yet to be brought up to speed on the situation. An incident like this could easily be handled by your average field agents. This begs the question: why are you here?"

"I'm surprised that you of all people haven't noticed," Vitus said, lifting the head of the nearest corpse. "These victims weren't human."

Alucard peered over the top of his glasses, red eyes fixed on the pair of fangs that protruded from the victim's open jaws. Making slight glances at the other bodies surrounding his feet, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"What's more," Vitus continued, "these bodies have only one mark in common among their wounds."

Lifting the body closest to him once more, Vitus drew attention to a single round puncture wound in the corpse's chest cavity, directly over the left half of the upper rib cage. It was surrounded by incredibly pale skin, paler than the rest of the body.

"The drain point, I take it," Wesley said, motioning towards the wound.

"Considering there are no other marks from which blood could have been sufficiently drawn, it would be a very safe assumption."

"No other marks?" Alucard asked.

"None," Vitus said. "If you're wondering, they all used these."

Vitus tossed the vial of red pills that had been found on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Opening it, Alucard took one small sniff of the contents inside.

"Vampire blood in mid-metamorphosis," he said, capping the bottle with a click.

"They seemed to have ingested the fluid in those pills through their nasal cavities," Vitus explained. "Traces of the pill residue were found in their nostrils."

"They snorted those things?" Wesley asked, taking the pills from Alucard.

"To put it in layman's terms, yes."

"The vampiric virus doesn't take long to manifest," Alucard said, studying one of the corpses. "With this unusual administration method, the symptoms progressed in an adverse pattern to traditional vampire transformations. Bodies usually perish before the virus takes hold completely, but it would seem this variant can make vampires of the living."

"That still doesn't explain why they're all drained of blood, not to mention a human bystander was left untouched by whatever did this," Wesley said.

"Is the survivor still here?" Alucard asked.

"Yes, but he's still in shock. We haven't been able to get a word out of him since we arrived," Vitus explained.

"Where is he now?"

"Outside, in the second car."

Alucard turned to exit the room, but paused.

"Agent Felix."

"Y-Yes?"

"Come with me. I'll need a human hand in this."

Wesley looked to Vitus, who nodded and motioned for him to follow. Wesley got to his feet and hurried after Alucard, who was walking quite briskly.

"Does the car have tinted windows?" Alucard asked as they walked through the halls.

"I'm sorry?"

"Tinted windows," Alucard repeated with a scowl. "The sunlight is rather intense today, if you didn't notice."

"Oh, right. Yes, they're tinted and ultraviolet resistant."

"Good. Now get the door."

Wesley hurried ahead, opening the doors to allow Alucard swift passage through the front doors of the dormitory hall. As he stepped out into the sun, a smell of burning flesh and cloth immediately radiated from Alucard's person. He swiftly moved to the designated vehicle, Wesley opening the door for him.

"Ugh," Wesley coughed, holding a hand to his mouth and nose. "You're not being hurt by this?"

"Of course I am," Alucard said. His red eyes leered up at Wesley from beneath his wide fedora. "But then, I'm stronger than most."

Wesley followed Alucard into the car, shutting the door behind him. In the front seat of the car sat Andrew, the only survivor of the attack. His head shifted as the stench Alucard brought with him reached his nostrils, and he looked around trying to find the source. His eyes eventually falling on Alucard, he quickly recoiled.

"Boy," Alucard said, staring down Andrew. "You witnessed what happened here the night before, did you not?"

Andrew didn't say a word. With a sigh, Alucard removed his glasses and fedora before staring him down once more.

"I asked you a question, boy," he said, his voice carrying with it a strange allure. "Tell me what it is you saw."

Andrew's body trembled slightly before becoming absolutely still. The irises of his eyes began to glow a faint red, his voice rising from his throat in slight murmurs at first.

"I… saw… an angel," he finally said.

"A what?!" Wesley almost yelled.

"Quiet!" Alucard commanded, shocking Wesley back into silence.

"An angel," Andrew continued. "Black wings… silver hair… shining armor… a spear in his hand… he killed them all. Saved my life."

"Did this angel give his name?"

Andrew barely shook his head no.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He told me… he told me I was pure. Looked at me with… those pale white eyes… and said I was pure."

A single tear slid down Andrew's face. His voice almost sounded joyful as he recalled the angel's words.

Alucard replaced his fedora and glasses on his head, opened the door and stepped out into the sun. He moved to return to his own vehicle.

"Wha- hold on! Alucard! Wait!" Wesley called after him, stepping out of the car as well.

He rushed after the once again smoldering vampire as he quickly opened the door to his limousine and stepped inside. Wesley attempted to get in the car after him, but Alucard locked the door. Instead, he rolled down his window just enough to allow his voice to be clearly audible.

"Inform Vitus of everything you have heard," Alucard instructed. "Don't leave anything out. I'm going to contact my informants in England. Have the Men in Black begin research as well. Now stand aside."

With that, Alucard commanded his driver to return to the hotel. Wesley was about to head back inside when he heard a pronounced thud come from the second car. Glancing back, Andrew was now passed out with his head firmly planted against the car door's window.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he groaned, hurrying to Andrew's aid.

Alucard sat motionless in the back seat of his limo. Behind his glasses, his brow was furrowed.

"Everything alright, sir?" the driver asked.

"Drive."

"…Yes, sir."

Alucard remained seated in the same position for several minutes, the only motion coming from the rock and sway of the car as it continued down the road. Finally, he opened the side compartment and removed the cellular phone, dialed, and placed it firmly against his ear. After several dial tones, the sound of a click signaled a connection.

"This is the Hellsing Manor. May I ask who is calling?" a rather formal Englishman's voice spoke at the other end of the line.

"Hello, Walter," Alucard responded. "Just the person I was looking for."

"Ah, Alucard. We were not expecting a report from you just yet."

"I'm calling in regards to another matter," Alucard said. "Is my master available?"

"Sir Arthur Hellsing is currently away on other business."

"He's out indulging his habits again, isn't he?"

Walter gave a slight chuckle. "Not quite, sir."

There was the sound of footsteps, a slight shuffle as the phone was repositioned, and then the clear sound of snoring rang through the earpiece. Alucard gave a sigh, waiting for Walter to resume conversation.

"I just finished cleaning up after his usual mess when you called. I know this man can drink, but he never ceases to amaze me."

"Just as well. This can be done without my master's assistance."

"How might I be of service, Alucard?"

"There is something I need you to research for me. Find anything related to the following description…"

Alucard continued to detail the crime scene, the victims, and the description of Andrew's supposed angel. From Walter's end, the sound of a pen scratching on parchment was almost constant.

"As soon as you find something, contact me," Alucard said, preparing to hang up.

"Alucard," Walter's voice interrupted. "Forgive me for saying so, but… you don't sound like yourself. As you described these things to me, it sounded as though you were more familiar with whatever this angel is. At the mention of it, you sounded almost… tense."

There was a moment of silence.

"You misunderstand, Walter," Alucard said. "I have only a slight suspicion as to what this new monstrosity is. I have only heard tale of its existence, but I must make certain my suspicions lest my focus trail from me. As for my tone of voice…"

Alucard stared forward, his eyes now wide and gleaming. A large, fanged smile spread over his face as a deep chuckle began to resonate from his throat.

"… you must forgive me. I was trying to contain my excitement at the idea."

* * *

><p>"An angel?" Agent Wolfgang said as she looked up from the dried husk of a vampire corpse she was examining. "Are you serious?"<p>

"That's what the guy said," Wesley said with a sigh.

"You sure he wasn't already on something?"

"The toxic scan was negative," Vitus said, wiping a smudge from his mirror shades. "What's more, no one's ever been able to lie to Alucard and live to tell about it."

"Is there anything… _else_ that could match such a description?"

"From the intel gathered by our research department, we've only drawn one parallel between an angelic figure and death of vampires."

"And that is?"

"A Crusnik," Alucard's voice resounded through the room as he walked through the wall. "An incredibly powerful creature that feeds on the blood of vampires."

Agent Wolfgang's face became pale.

"Just how many weird ways can you enter a room?" Wesley asked.

"So you arrived at the same conclusion," Vitus said.

"My sources were quite thorough in their research," Alucard said with a smile.

"So this thing is a vampire that feeds on other vampires?" Wesley asked.

"Essentially," Vitus said. "Are you alright, Agent Wolfgang?"

Wesley looked over to see Ariel pale-faced and wide-eyed, gripping the edge of the medical table until her knuckles were just as white as her face.

"Whoa, whoa, hey!" Wesley said, springing to his feet and grasping Ariel by the shoulders before she collapsed. "Take it easy. What's wrong?"

Ariel blinked several times, gasping slightly as she regained her footing.

"I, uh… I'm sorry…" she stammered.

Ariel glanced up at Wesley, becoming slightly transfixed by the concern in his gaze. Quickly snapping back to reality, she stepped back from him and regained her composure. A slight blush slowly faded from her once pale features.

"This woman," Alucard said, eyeing Ariel. "You're-"

"Agent Wolfgang," Wesley said, "do you need anything?"

"No, really, I'm fine," Ariel said.

"Why the fainting spell?" Vitus asked, just as concerned.

"It's just… a Crusnik is the stuff of legend. And even that's a stretch. Any record of them is absolutely miniscule at best, only hinted at in most cases. Even then, they are not creatures born of the earth. They're something else entirely."

"You mean… like… alien?" Wesley asked.

Vitus, Ariel, and Alucard all raised an eyebrow at him. Wesley opened his mouth to retort, but shut it after Vitus shook his head at him.

"No one knows what they are," Ariel continued. "They might very well be divine or some form of angelic creature."

"The last I checked, angels didn't need the blood of others to keep themselves alive," Alucard said.

"Alucard, did your sources turn up any means by which to kill this creature?" Vitus asked.

"Wait, what?" Wesley said. "Kill it? Why would we kill it?"

"Excuse me, Agent Felix?"

"Why kill this thing? All it does is our job, but better. No innocent people caught in the crossfire, no chance of the vampires escaping. So far, this Crusnik has done a better job at keeping people safe than we have!"

"Just because someone is a vampire, it does not make them evil," Alucard interjected.

"So far, you're the only exception that I've seen to that rule!" Wesley protested. "And even then, something as strong as you couldn't have gotten that way just by sucking on animal blood, or so I'm assuming!"

Alucard cast his eyes down.

"You forget your place, Agent Felix," Ariel spoke up. "What Alucard says is true."

"I'll believe it when I see it with my own eyes!" Wesley snapped. "Or have you forgotten that vampires are the reason I'm here to begin with?"

"Agent Felix, I didn't mean-"

"_They killed my SISTER!_" Wesley yelled, slamming a dent into the surgical table with his fist. "_My FAMILY!_"

"Wesley!" Vitus yelled, grasping him by the collar and staring him in the face with his electric blue eyes. "That's enough!"

Wesley glared back for a few moments. Vitus let him down gently, grasped Wesley by the chin, and gently turned his head to one side. Wesley's eyes fell on Ariel, whose face was now lowered, fresh tears dropping from her chin.

Vitus then released him. Wesley looked from Ariel, to Alucard, to Vitus, and back. The silence was thick.

"…I'm sorry," Wesley finally said.

Ariel looked up, wiped her eyes and gave a single nod.

"The passion of humans never ceases to amaze me," Alucard said.

"Getting back on track, we intend to kill this Crusnik," Vitus said. "Let's not forget that we have a vampiric drug on the streets, changing those innocent people into packs of bloodthirsty killers at a time.

"Not only will entire families be endangered," he continued, glancing toward Wesley, "but even those masses will be nothing but food for the Crusnik. We do not know what kind of threat he can pose. He hasn't harmed a human _yet_, but I don't intend to wait around to see if he does."

"So is there a way to kill a Crusnik?" Wesley asked.

"That's one reason I'm so worried," Ariel said. "We don't know."

* * *

><p>"Attention, we have a code four fifteen in the vicinity of Ridgewood Drive. Reports of bright flashes of light and explosive noises have been reported, no apparent structural damage to any nearby homes. Backup requested, any units in the vicinity please respond. I repeat, we have a code four fifteen near Ridgewood Drive, any units in the vicinity please respond."<p>

The red and blue lights of a police patrol car flashed in tandem with the blare of the siren. The two officers both gave wearied sighs.

"So close to the end of our shift," the officer driving said.

"Isn't that always how it happens, Brad? Stuff always happens later at night," the female officer in the passenger's seat said, picking up the radio's handheld speaker. "This is car five-oh-seven responding, we are en route, over."

"Explosive sounds and bright light. What do you think it is this time, Marsha?"

"Probably some kids who got their hands on some fireworks. Loud noise and lights without the damage, that's what I'd say it is."

"Well, let's see if you're right. We're here."

As the patrol car rolled down the road, more bright flashes could be seen coming from the backyards of nearby homes. Thunderclaps resounded through the air, shaking the car's window panels.

"That's not fireworks," Marsha said, drawing her pistol as she rushed outside.

Brad followed behind, pistol drawn as he and his partner reached the front door of the property. They found the door ajar, and proceeded inside.

"Eureka city police!" they called into the house. The inside of the house was dark, no audible sound save for the officer's own footsteps on the tile flooring. As their flashlights glanced over the walls, tears, cracks, and scorch marks became visible, growing steadily more numerous as they approached the back of the house. As they reached the end of the front hallway, they arrived at what used to be a dining room; the table was broken in two, chairs were either completely broken or driven into the walls nearby, and dishware was scattered around in pieces along with minute traces of blood.

The sound of rushed footsteps on stairs suddenly came from in front of them. Looking through a clear sliding glass doorway that led out to the back yard of the property, a young teen raced at breakneck speed up the porch.

"Freeze! Police!" Brad yelled, aiming his gun at the panicked teenager.

Not paying him any attention, the boy simply slammed into the glass door, struggling in a mad rush to open it. Before he could do anything else, a lance pierced his chest and shot through the glass window, sending a spider web of cracks across the windowpane. The shock of the incident caused Brad and Marsha to jump, Brad's pistol discharging a round by accident. The gunshot startled the teen, who unexpectedly hissed and bore a pair of sharp fangs and glowing red eyes in the policeman's direction. This was a short lived expression, however, as the life quickly drained from him. His eyes sank into his head, his skin tightened over his degrading muscles, and his jaw fell slack.

The lance slowly pulled back through the door until it disappeared behind the teen vampire's body, which fell through the cracked glass doorway. Zerachiel stared down the police officers with his white eyes, a hint of crimson blood surrounding his lips. Left speechless, Marsha and Brad held their pistols steady, not moving an inch. Zerachiel then moved to walk away from the two officers.

"Freeze!" Marsha almost screeched, her voice cracking slightly. "You're… you're under arrest!"

Zerachiel paused. He smiled and chuckled slightly before continuing his walk away from the house.

"I said you're under arrest!" Marsha yelled, walking after Zerachiel with pistol ready to fire.

No longer amused, Zerachiel spread his wings in one large burst, sending a blast of air that knocked Marsha back through the opening in the sliding glass door.

"Humans, the both of you are pure souls and keepers of law and order. Interfere again, and I won't restrain myself."

Angered at the attack on his partner, Brad raised his pistol and fired a pair of rounds at Zerachiel. One grazed his ear while the other pierced his throat, sending a stream of blood down his silver breastplate. Still, he remained standing.

Turning around to face the officers, the blood flowed back up into his throat and the wound closed without leaving a mark.

"An unfortunate decision," Zerachiel mused.

The cries of the two officers were drowned out by the thunderclap of Zerachiel's lightning bolt. The Crusnik then took his leave, flying high into the night sky and above the clouds, where the dull light of a crescent moon colored the mists a dull grey.

Taking a deep breath of the night air, his brow furrowed and he gave a lamenting sigh.

_"__Still so many souls choosing the path of impurity and hatred,"_ he thought._ "And even now, the humans interfere with their own purification. I cannot afford such merciful acts any longer. Any further disruption will be met with-"_

His eyes snapped wide open. He spun round to face south, the wind rushing over him as it approached.

_"__This scent… this presence…"_ he marveled, breathing in the air once more. _"It's absolutely rank! So many defiled souls in one place. And…"_

He sniffed the air again.

_"…__and one… incredibly tortured soul presiding over them all. I can feel the anguish. The hatred. The longing. And such bloodlust!"_

Zerachiel appeared almost seduced by the scent that he described with such passion.

_"__This is a prize worthy of my purification! A creature with a power fit for my consumption! However, I mustn't be impatient. Something such as this and a being such as I will be fated to cross paths; it is inevitable. And when we meet…"_

A delighted laugh complimented the wide, fanged smile that had spread wide across Zerachiel's face.

_"__It will be mine!"_

* * *

><p>Wesley walked through what seemed like perpetual darkness, the ground beneath his feet solid but his stride uncertain. At the sight of light a distance ahead of him, his stride quickened. Despite how far away it seemed, he was surprised at how quickly he reached the source.<p>

_"__I… know this place…"_ he thought.

It was the living room of his family home. Everything was just the way he remembered it. The vanilla white walls; the three-seat brown fabric couch with an old tear in one of the arms from when his father had been a little too overconfident with his box cutter; the pale recliner with a hand-knit blanket where his mother always used to sit reading her romance novels; the dark patch on the carpet near the television set from when Lauren had knocked over a glass of grape juice, despite promising she would use a lid whenever she had a drink in the living room; and the wide doorway that led to their backyard porch, the door of which was difficult to slide open ever since Wesley had slammed into it on accident when running through the house one day when he was ten.

And there in the middle of the room, standing and making idle chit chat, were his parents. They looked at him with all-too-familiar delight, expressions which caused a lump to form in Wesley's throat.

"Lauren! Someone's here to see you!" his father called.

A familiar face circled around from the hallway coming from the bedrooms. Her blonde hair, blue eyes, and warm smile made Wesley's insides cringe.

"Big bro, you're home!" she exclaimed, walking towards him with arms outstretched.

Wesley was speechless as he felt his sister's arms wrap around his neck. He quickly returned the embrace, holding her close. For the briefest of moments, he felt peaceful again. Delighted by the return of such happiness, he hugged her a little tighter.

He felt warmth within his arms. It grew warmer. And wetter. Something trickled down his forearms and hands. Confused, Wesley loosened his embrace and stepped back.

The pale, lifeless eyes of his sister's body stared back at him. A deep gash in her throat allowed blood to pour down past her shoulders and down her chest and back.

Frightened, Wesley released his sister's body, and it tumbled back onto the floor. Near where she fell, the bodies of his parents also laid dead in pools of deep crimson. The light of the room had vanished, the walls now splattered in red and shadows.

This darkness seemed to mix with the red puddles, and a mass of the concoction began to rise from the floor. A bloody red jacket morphed over black arms, and a wide-brimmed fedora spread over a figure's pitch black hair.

"We're not evil!" Alucard's voice almost growled. Raising his head, an insane bloodlust and twisted smile contorted his features. "We're not evil!" he snarled again, almost tauntingly.

_"__No! NO!" _Wesley tried to yell, but no sound came from his throat. He fell to his knees, bowing over and clutching his head in agony, screaming with a voice he didn't have.

"Wesley," a new but familiar voice said calmly.

Looking up, Wesley now gazed into Ariel's green eyes. By degrees, he felt the peace he had felt before begin to return, and with it the warm light of his surroundings. The living room had vanished, and he now stood in an illuminated space void of detail, save for the one person standing before him. Ariel helped him to his feet, taking hold of his face as she had before, when Vitus was about to break his finger. This time she had a faint smile on her lips.

"I'm right here," she said in the same calm voice.

"Ariel…" Wesley said with a newfound voice. "You're… like an-"

"Angel?" she said, completing his thought. Her smile grew and she gave a slight giggle. "Don't be ridiculous."

A slight shade suddenly cast itself over the two of them. Looking up, Wesley saw two large angelic wings spreading upward. They were stretching from Ariel's back.

Wesley gave a slight laugh. "What do you mean? Of course you are!"

He suddenly felt Ariel's grip tighten. His eyes shot back down to her face. Sharp red eyes stared back at him, pointed fangs now glistening in Ariel's smile.

"No… I'm not."

She snapped Wesley's head to the side and sank her fangs deep into his throat. Stabbing pain shot through his neck as he felt blood burst from his skin.

* * *

><p>"GAH!" Wesley yelled, sitting up straight in bed.<p>

He grabbed at his neck immediately, finding it completely intact. He did, however, feel a layer of cold sweat on the surface of his skin, which sent an immediate chill down the rest of his body. He breathed heavily, clutching at his chest as he tried to slow his throbbing heartbeat. After a few moments, he brought his hand to his forehead, his lightly dampened blonde bangs sticking to the back of his hand.

"A dream," he said aloud. "It was just a dream."

He hunched forward, lightly clutching his head in his hands.

"Just a dream."

END EPISODE IV


End file.
